Barriers to mammography among women attending gynecologic outpatient clinics in Tehran, Iran

摘要

The aim of this study was to understand barriers to mammography among women attending obstetric and gynecologic outpatient clinics. Women at 4 obstetric and gynecologic clinics affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey with self-administered questionnaire and divided into two groups. The participant group consisted of women who had mammogram in the last two years and the non-participant group of women who had never had mammogram or for whom it had been over 2 years since their last mammogram. A total of 400 women aged 35 to 69 years, were randomly selected using random cluster sampling: 86(21.5%) were evaluated as the participant group and 314(78.5%) as the non-participant group. The result showed that lack of doctors’ advice, for the participant group, and embarrassment, for the non-participant group, are the most salient barriers. Mammography screening remains a health challenge for women and results suggest a comprehensive approach to focus on the attitudinal and logistic barriers.