Breast Cancer Screening Practice: Awareness among Women in Muar District

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. The most recent estimate indicated that there are more than 1.6 million new cases of breast cancer worldwide yearly.Objectives: To assess the level of awareness on breast cancer screening practice among women in Muar.Methods: This is a quantitative cross-sectional survey done on 383 respondents in Muar where participants’ age ranged from 18-80 years. The study used a two-step sampling method namely cluster and simple random sampling. Descriptive analysis was used to describe participant s’ socio-demographic characteristics while chi square was used to present the results.Results: Conventional method of breast cancer awareness campaign currently available is probably unsatisfactory. In our survey, only 52.38% of vulnerable aged women among our study subjects in Muar have any knowledge or awareness on breast cancer screening practices. Factors influencing knowledge and awareness of breast cancer screening practices were greatly influenced by level of education and level of household monthly income. Only 50 to 60% of respondents in group 1 (18-25 years), group 2 (26-31 years), group 3 (32- 37 years) performs Breast Self-Examination (BSE). The practice of clinical breast examina t ion among women in group 4 (38-43 years) group 5 (44-50 years) and group 6 (>50 years) only ranged between as low as 30% to a maximum of 50% while annual mammogram screening was only 20% in group 5 and 30% in group 6.Conclusion: The results of the study proved poor knowledge and practices of breast screening practices among vulnerable women in Muar district. Compliance to clinical breast examina t ion and mammogram is even lower.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2019 Page: 43