Breast Cancer Awareness among Middle Class Urban Women--a Community-Based Study from Mumbai, India.

Anita Gadgil,Catherine Sauvaget,Kirstin Grosse Frie,Kanchan Bantwal,Eric Lucas,Nobhojit Roy,Anuradha Chakraborty,Indrani Haldar,Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan

doi:10.7314/apjcp.2015.16.15.6249

Abstract

Targeting breast cancer awareness along with comprehensive cancer care is appropriate in low and middle income countries like India, where there are no organized and affordable screening services. It is essential to identify the existing awareness about breast cancer in the community prior to launching an organized effort. This study assessed the existing awareness about breast cancer amongst women and their health seeking practices in an urban community in Mumbai, India. A postal survey was undertaken with low or no cost options for returning the completed questionnaires. The majority of the women were aware about cancer but awareness about symptoms and signs was poor. Women were willing to accept more information about cancer and those with higher awareness scores were more likely to seek medical help. They were also more likely to have undergone breast examination in the past and less likely to use alternative medicines. High income was associated with better awareness but this did not translate into better health seeking behaviour. Organized programmes giving detailed information about breast cancer and its symptoms are needed and women from all income categories need to be encouraged for positive change towards health seeking. Further detailed studies regarding barriers to health seeking in India are necessary.

Highlights

Breast cancer is a growing concern worldwide and low- and middle-income countries are reporting increased incidence as well
High income was associated with better awareness but this did not translate into better health seeking behaviour
We conducted a population-based questionnaire survey to further explore the baseline awareness about breast cancer and about cancer detection and screening in women from an urban middle-class community

Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer is a growing concern worldwide and low- and middle-income countries are reporting increased incidence as well. Opportunistic screening by mammography is provided to those who can afford it, since mammography is available in most public hospitals It is a well-established fact that mammographic screening is not cost-effective in countries like India (Sankaranarayanan and Ferlay 2013) and prevention, based on cancer awareness and early detection programmes, are more appropriate (Anderson et al, 2011). This has been emphasized in governmentrun programmes like ‘Health for all’ and ‘national rural health mission’, but data and findings from these interventions are not available (Agarwal and Ramakant 2008). We conducted a population-based questionnaire survey to further explore the baseline awareness about breast cancer and about cancer detection and screening in women from an urban middle-class community

Methods

Results

Conclusion