New campaign highlights breast cancer risk among older women

A new national campaign has been launched by Public Health England to educate older women on their heightened risk of breast cancer.

The Be Clear on Cancer campaign is based around the slogan "don't assume you're past it" and will encompass national adverts running on TV and in the press until March 16th 2014. It will encourage older women to visit their doctor if they spot any changes in their breasts.

Official figures show one in three women diagnosed with breast cancer in England each year are aged 70 or over. This age group also accounts for more than half of all breast cancer deaths annually.

Despite this, two-thirds of women aged 70 and over wrongly think women of all ages are equally likely to get breast cancer, rather than the risk increasing with age.

Chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said: "Survival rates from this disease decrease with age – however, awareness of symptoms and risk is low amongst this age group, meaning these women are more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage."

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with around 48,000 women contracting the disease in Britain each year.