Abstract
IntroductionBreast cancer is one of the most common cancers and cause of death among women globally. Mortality due to breast cancer was higher in lower (LMICs) and middle-income countries than high income countries (HICs) mostly due to lack of timely detection and treatment. There was limited evidence related to breast cancer screening practice among women in Eastern Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess breast cancer screening practice and its associated factors among women in this area.MethodsA community based descriptive cross-sectional study design was conducted among 422 randomly selected women in Kersa district, Eastern Ethiopia using systematic sampling. Data were collected using pretested interviewer administered questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to analyse the association between the dependent and independent variables.ResultsThe overall breast cancer screening practice among women was 6.9%. Women with the age of 26 years and above were 2.3 times more likely to have breast cancer screening practice as compared to women with age of 20-25 years (AOR=2.3; 95% CI: 1.4, 3.7), and women who had good knowledge on breast cancer risk factors were 3.4 times more likely to had breast cancer screening as compared to their counterpart (AOR=3.4; 95% CI: 1.3, 9.4). The women who had ever heard about breast cancer screening were 2.8 times more likely to have breast cancer screening as compared to those who had never heard about breast cancer screening (AOR=2.8; 95% CI: 1.2, 6.5).ConclusionThe overall breast cancer screening practice was very low among women in the study area. Age and women's knowledge towards breast cancer risk factors and breast cancer screening information were identified as important factors for breast cancer screening practice.
Highlights
Breast cancer is a malignant tumor which starts in the cells of the breast and grows into or metastasize to surrounding or distant areas of the body [1]
In 2012, about 14.1 million women were diagnosed with cancer, of which 1.7 million were breast cancer cases; 56.8% of the cases were from low-income countries
The study is comparable with the study done in Iran which showed that only 10.1% of study subjects have performed breast selfexamination (BSE) regularly as once per month and only 8.4% had clinical breast examination (CBE) regularly as once per year and in Egypt only 1.3% practice BSE regularly every month and 6.1% reported that they performed it irregularly [21,22]
Summary
Breast cancer is a malignant tumor which starts in the cells of the breast and grows into or metastasize to surrounding or distant areas of the body [1] It is one of the most common cancers and cause of death among women globally [2,3,4]. Over the past two decades, breast cancer has become a matter of serious public health concern in developing countries due to a high pace increase of its incidence This burden of breast cancer is increasing because of different factors like aging, smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and other poor health related behaviors [6]. Mortality due to breast cancer was higher in LMICs than HICs mostly due to lack of timely detection and treatment This problem was more aggravated by rising burden of breast cancer incidence [7]. The treatment may cost more than 80,000 ETB (8,335 USD) which most patients cannot afford [11]
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