Awareness of Breast Cancer Risk Factors and Breast Self-Examination amongst Rural Women of Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8307457Keywords:
Keywords: Breast self-examination, risk factors, practice, breast cancerAbstract
Abstract
Objective: To assess the awareness of major risk factors of breast cancer and understanding and
practice related to breast self-examination among rural women of Pakistan.
Methodology: 396 rural women were enrolled for this cross-sectional study from the catchment rural
areas of district Gujranwala between 15th September 2022 to 30th December 2022. A self-structured
and valid questionnaire was used to gather information regarding practice and knowledge related to
breast self-examination (BSE) and breast cancer risk factors. In this analysis, Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyse the data at a 95% confidence interval.
Results: Average age of 396 rural women was 32.96±11.74 years and 25.25% of females were unaware
of breast cancer. Only three out of fifteen risk factors were known by 1/3 of the participant which were
family history of breast cancer, obesity and lack of breastfeeding. Out of the total population, the
majority (84%) had no idea about breast self-examination (BSE) whereas only 16% know about the
process of BSE.
Conclusion: Most rural women were aware of breast cancer however the awareness level was low for
the associated risk factors. More importantly, despite being aware of breast cancer the vast majority
(84%) had no knowledge or training of BSE.
Keywords: Breast self-examination, risk factors, breast cancer.
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