A Survey on Breast Cancer Awareness Among Medical, Paramedical, and General Population in North India Using Self-Designed Questionnaire: a Prospective Study

AbstractBreast cancer (BC) has become the most common cancer in urban women. Unfortunately, most women are not aware of BC symptoms/signs, prevention, and management. In resource-limited countries like India where we do not have structured screening/awareness programs, a majority of women present with locally advanced BC. The aim of our study is to identify the present status of awareness about BC prevention, early detection, symptoms, and management in urban and rural Indian women (medical, paramedical, and nonmedical) and to assess whether education and socioeconomic strata have any role in better awareness about BC or not. We did a prospective cross-sectional observation study among the medical, paramedical, and nonmedical women in the northern part of India. We designed a questionnaire keeping in mind the three domains about BC —knowledge (questions 1–25 include risk factors, genetics, lifestyle changes, hormones, associated cancers, and modes of presentation like lump, nipple/skin changes), breast self-examination (questions 25–37), and attitude to prevention and early detection (questions 38–44). We also asked ho w many do breast self-examination (BSE) and what they think are the three main factors responsible for late presentation and the three main ways to increase BC awareness. The Likert scale was used for objective assessment. We analyzed the whole data using SPSS software version 15. A total of 220 wom en out of 270 completed the questionnaire. Out of 220 ...
Source: Indian Journal of Surgical Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research