EIGHT out of 10 women have not checked their breasts for signs of cancer in the past month.

A poll of more than 1,000 women found that 80 per cent had not looked for symptoms such as lumps and changes in size and shape. And 52 per cent said they had not even spared a thought for their breasts in any sense during an average day, according to research.

About 41,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.