Experience of Pain and Unpleasantness during Mammography Screening: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Roles of Emotional, Cognitive, and Personality Factors.

Anxiety levels influence the pain experienced in association with the mammography procedure. Women subjected to mammography screenings might benefit from relaxation strategies aimed at reducing anxiety to pre-mammography levels and, by extension, pain and unpleasantness during mammography. The inclusion of these strategies in breast cancer prevention campaigns could improve the rates of mammography reattendance, and therefore, benefit cancer prevention efforts.