Scientists learn what women know—and don't know—about breast density and cancer risk

Breast density is an important risk factor for breast cancer but no study had asked women what they know or think about breast density in relation to screening they have had. A number of states do have notification laws about breast density, but these laws vary. In a new qualitative study, a team of scientists at Dartmouth and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center and the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium led by Karen Schifferdecker, Ph.D., MPH, and Anna Tosteson, ScD, sought to explore women's knowledge and perceptions of breast density and experiences of breast cancer screening across three states with and without notification laws.