An opinion poll revealed that more than 8 out of 10 women perceive the new guidelines that do not recommend routine breast cancer screening for women below the age of 50 as unsafe.

However, University of Massachusetts Medical School researchers in Worcester found out that the majority of the women gravely overestimate their risk to develop the disease.

A group of independent experts funded by the government decided to change its recommendations in late 2009. This flared up the controversy over breast cancer screening through mammography.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advised that women should only get routine breast cancer screening when they reach the age of 50 and not 40. The group also recommended that women between the age of 50 and 74 should only get mammograms every other year.

But, the group did not say that no women below 50 years old should be screened for breast cancer. They said the decision would be left to the woman and her doctor, based on the individual’s risk factors and preferences. Still, the recommendations faced staunch resistance from medical and advocacy groups, as well as from news organizations.

The opinion poll was carried out by Autumn Davidson and her colleagues to find out what women really think about it. They gave answer forms to 247 women in their 40s, who also came to the hospital for their yearly well-woman health screening.

The survey showed that 8 out of 10 women felt that the new guidelines were not safe and wanted annual mammograms. They said they would not delay the screening until the age of 50.

North Carolina researchers report new results from their investigation on black women and breast cancer in an effort to gather latest information on racial differences in breast cancer prognosis.

According to previous research, breast cancer in younger black women in the United States appears to be more of the aggressive basal-like subtype, which is a triple-negative cancer, that could help explain why black women have an increased chance to die from breast cancer in comparison to other women.

Data in the new study showed basal-like breast cancer is an equally aggressive disease in both African-American women and white women, co-author of the study Charles M. Perou said in a university news release. The study can be found at the recent issue of the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

The researchers examined tissue from 518 black women and 631 white women who were enrolled in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study. The women were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

Perou is a professor of genetics and pathology at the Universe of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He also added based on the results of their study that Africam-American women had worse outcomes no matter what type of breast cancer they developed.

This suggests other factors such as differences in access to care and treatment and the more common subtypes of breast cancer like luminal A breast cancer could lead to the higher breast cancer mortality rate in African-American women.

On the other hand, based on study-co author Dr. Lisa Carey during the news release, the data imply that it may not be possible to identify a truly good prognosis of a breast cancer subtype in African-American women and that they need to find out why.

Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer has reached her liver and physicians have advised against further treatment, the People magazine has reported on Monday.

The now-separated wife of U.S presidential candidate John Edwards was briefly hospitalized last week. She is currently resting at her home with her family and friends. The celebrity magazine reported that her breast cancer, which was first diagnosed in 2004, has metastasized to her liver as stated by her doctors.

According to the Edwards family’s statement in People magazine, the doctors have advised Elizabeth that it would be unproductive to give further treatment for her cancer.

Upon visiting Edwards Facbook page, it revealed a recent status change on Monday. Elizabeth posted a status telling about how her life has been sustained by her family, friends, as well as her faith in the power of hope and resilience, which she considers as her three saving graces.

In addition, she said that those graces have carried her through difficult times and have brought more joy than she could have imagined. She also pointed out that one’s life is numbered and everyone knows that.

Edwards’ breast cancer had spread to her bones in 2007. During her interview in June 2010, she also said that it has already reached other parts of her body, particularly in her spine, legs and skull.

Elizabeth Edwards and her politician husband announced their separation in January after 32 years of marriage. The separation was followed by a scandal that links the U.S Senator with an affair with another woman, and that he had fathered a baby during his bid for the U.S presidential nomination in 2008.

Elizabeth had written two best-selling books, entitled “Resilience” and “Saving Graces,” which talks about her long battle with her illness, as well as the reports surrounding her husband.