Awareness Regarding Breast Cancer and Its Screening Methods among Women of the Reproductive Age Group in Rural Coastal Karnataka

摘要

"Introduction: Incidence of breast cancer is on the rise in the devel-oping nations due to increasing urbanization and adoption of western lifestyles. High mortality rate among women is attributable to barriers such as ‘low cancer awareness’. Objective: To assess the awareness regarding breast cancer among women of reproductive age group. Methodology: A Cross-sectional study was conducted in Kumpala village among women in the age group 15-49 years for a period of one month between April to May 2017. After taking informed consent, all the participants were personally interviewed through pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire regarding awareness of breast cancer. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Results: Of the 165 people included in the study 81.8% (135) of the study participants had heard about breast cancer. Among 135 participants, 50.4% (68) of the participants were not aware of the symptoms of breast cancer, 76.3 %( 103) were not aware of risk factors of breast cancer and 52.9% (70) were not aware about breast self examination (BSE). Conclusion: Awareness regarding breast cancer was found to be poor, be it about risk factors, warning signs, or early detection procedures. Socioeconomic status and education was found to be sig-nificantly associated with their level of awareness.