Awareness about risk factors for breast cancer and mammography among pregnant women

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONBreast cancer is a commonest cancer among females. 1 It has long been a disease of the developed nations, but recently women from developing countries are also equally affected by breast cancer and the incidence of breast cancer in developing countries like India is also rising.2-4 Plenty of risk factors have been identified in development of breast cancer viz. increasing age, hormone replacement therapy, high dietary fat, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and family history.1 Vast changes in life style modifications, places women in developing countries at high risk for development of breast cancer.Breast cancer if identified early can usually be cured and early detection through screening is the only way to reduce mortality. 5 It has been reported that women in developed countries present with breast cancer at early stages, whereas those in developing countries usually present only at late stages. The difference in time of presentation is mainly influenced by their awareness ABSTRACT Background: Breast cancer is a commonest cancer among females. Places that have experienced low prevalence are also affected recently due to failure at early detection. Increased level of awareness translates into early detection of the disease and early presentation. Improving awareness about the disease and availability of screening practices through targeted interventions will positively influenced adoption of early detection methods by women. We planned a study to determine the awareness about risk factors for breast cancer and mammography among pregnant mothers. Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 400 pregnant women from May 2016 to August 2016, at Indira Gandhi medical college and research institute, Puducherry in India. Face to face interview was conducted with all participants by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained a total of 21 questions. Answers to all questions were collected as categorical responses 'yes' and 'no'. Each answer was given a score of 1 and 0 respectively. Chi-square test was used to assess significance of study findings. Results: A cohort of 400 pregnant women, and all completed the questionnaire by a face to face interview. Response rate was 100%. Mean age was 24±3.72 years. The mean knowledge score on awareness about breast cancer was 0.56 and the mean knowledge score on awareness about risk factors for breast cancer was 0.14. Only 31 pregnant women (7.75%) were aware about mammography. All socio-demographic variables had significant effect on knowledge with p-value <0.05. Conclusions: The knowledge of our pregnant women on awareness about breast cancer was average and that on breast cancer risk factors and mammography was very poor.