Breast Cancer Screening Awareness in Educated Pakistani Women.

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the abnormal accumulation of breast cells, and the first symptom is typically a painless breast lump, though other symptoms, such as a change in size or shape, dimpling, redness, pitting, and the appearance of the nipple, or a change in the discharge from the nipple, may also be present.

Objective: To assess women's familiarity with breast screening practices and disseminate information about impact of early detection with favourable outcome.

Methodology: An online cross-sectional study was conducted and non-probability convenient sampling was used. Among 471 participants, complete data of 408 participants was available and used for the purpose of the study. Ethical considerations were followed and study approved by the ethical research committee of Bahria University Karachi. SPSS version 26 was used for the data analysis.

Results: The findings showed that participants had inadequate understanding about breast cancer screening. Women with advanced degrees fared no better in terms of knowledge than their less educated counterparts. Women with a strong family history of breast cancer found to have high levels of awareness about the disease.

Conclusion: The early diagnosis and treatment are key to reducing the risk of breast cancer progressing to a more advance stage. On the other hand, women at risk have limited knowledge about breast cancer that surely has detrimental effects on the diagnosis and management and adding increased mortality.

Keywords: Breast cancer, KAP, educated women, Breast Screening.