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The Kylie Minogue effect

Professor Simon Chapman from Sydney University, says there was a 100 per cent rise in bookings among women over 40 who had never been screened before.

The professor of public health said he looked at the numbers of booked mammograms as part of the government's BreastScreen programmes in the 19 weeks before, the two weeks during and the six weeks after the publicity surrounding Kylie's illness reports BBC

"A 100 per cent increase is absolutely unprecedented in the history of the screening program in Australia," Professor Chapman said.

"So if there has to be a silver lining on Kylie Minogue's diagnosis it's that undoubtedly a large number of women have done something very positive for their own health."