Abstract
Due to the late diagnosis, resulting partly from the absence of national screening programs, breast cancer has become a real public health problem in Cameroon, particularly in rural areas. This work aimed to assess breast cancer awareness in the North Region of Cameroon. Participants were selected randomly in six health centers surrounding rural areas of Garoua, North Region of Cameroon, and administered a questionnaire aimed at assessing their awareness about breast cancer warning signs and screening methods. Out of 475 women (including 37 medical personnel) interviewed, 23.3% had misconceptions and myth-based ideas on the origin of the disease. Employed women were more aware of breast cancer, its risk factors and symptoms as compared to other groups (p < 0.0001) for most of the risk factors and symptoms. Participants with higher education and employed women were also more aware of breast cancer screening, including breast self-examination mammography, and breast ultrasound (p < 0.0001 vs. other groups). Breast cancer screening and breast self-examination were mostly performed by women with higher education and employed women (p < 0.0001 compared to other groups). Ignorance was the main reason preventing women from performing breast self-examination and the high cost prevented going for mammography. Our study highlights the need to raise awareness among the populations in Cameroon North Region about the risk factors and clinical signs of breast cancer and the importance of screening practice for the early diagnosis of breast cancer.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and the deadliest cancer in women worldwide by far, it has become a real public health concern and challenge as it is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths amongst women, in developing countries where the situation is seriously increasing [1] [2]
Participants were selected randomly in six health centers surrounding rural areas of Garoua, North Region of Cameroon, and administered a questionnaire aimed at assessing their awareness about breast cancer warning signs and screening methods
More than 50% of the population was not aware of breast cancer risk factors
Summary
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and the deadliest cancer in women worldwide by far, it has become a real public health concern and challenge as it is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths amongst women, in developing countries where the situation is seriously increasing [1] [2]. About 2.1 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, and 626,679 breast cancer-related deaths were reported. These represented increases of 19% in the incidence and 17% in the mortality rates as compared to 2012 [1] [3] [4] [5]. In Africa, breast cancer represented 16% of cancer incidence and 18.3% of cancer-related mortality in 2018. In Cameroon, the situation is becoming alarming as breast cancer-related mortality rate displayed an increase of 34% between 2012 and 2018. 3273 new cases were diagnosed and 1780 women died of breast cancer in 2018, ranking the cancer with the highest incidence and highest death toll in Cameroon [1] [6]. The five-year median survival rate is 22%, and most patients die within 12 months after diagnosis [10] [11] [12] [13]
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