Awareness of Routine Breast Screening and Breast Cancer in Jos North Central Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Despite recent studies showing great improvement in the level of awareness of breast cancer, late presentation by sufferers of this disease still persist. Objective: To determine the level of awareness of routine breast cancer screening modalities and breast cancer amongst women in North Central Nigeria. Methods: This is a cross sectional study conducted using randomly selected consenting women to determine the level of awareness of routine breast cancer screening and breast cancer. Results: Three hundred and ninety-eight women participated in the study with mean age of 41.8±10.5. Majority are married (51.3%) and had attained tertiary education (66.3%). About ninety eight percent (98.5%) of the women are aware of breast cancer and the main sources of information includes health personnel (41.0%) and social media (28.1%). On the overall, knowledge of risk factors and symptoms of breast cancer was poor. Statistically significant relationship between knowledge of risk factors with age and educational level was noted. Conclusion: Study showed high level of awareness of breast cancer with a rather poor knowledge of risk factors and symptoms of the disease