Perceived Risk, Anxiety and Alexithymia in Sisters of Breast Cancer Patients Veena Shukla Mishra and Dhananjaya Saranath

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Indian women with an annual incidence of 144,937 cases and mortality of 70,218. The perception of cancer risk has consistently been mentioned as major factor influencing the women, who are at increased risk of inherited breast and ovarian cancer. The overestimation of cancer risk has been associated with many negative outcomes like anxiety and distress for one's self and family. Study suggests that women those who have higher perceived breast cancer risk experience greater worry and disengage coping. Aim: The purpose of the study was to examine the perception of risk of breast cancer in sisters of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and further examine the association with anxiety and alexithymia, as compared with healthy controls without a family history of breast cancer. Methods: The participants were requested to complete questionnaires including demographic and risk perception of breast cancer. The association of risk perception was evaluated b...