Risk Factor Associations of Breast Cancer Among Women Attending Out-Patients Department of the Hospital: A Case vs. Control Study

Abstract

Breast cancer is the first most common cancer in Indian women. The main factors that influence risk of breast cancer include being a woman and getting older, sociodemographic factors, family history of cancer, OCP, etc. The aim of the study was to report the sociodemographic factors, habits, personal history, clinical presentation of women and analyze risk factors with breast cancer in comparison with without breast cancer. This study is based on data collection from women (N = 606) from out-patients department of a regional cancer hospital who attended the Centre during the study period. Data analysis for 606 women showed the overall mean age of the participants was 39.32 ± 9.79 (mean ± SD) years with most (46.6%) of them belonging to the age group of 40–49 years. Most of them (39.6%) complain about feeling lumps inside the breast. Age at menarche starts at the age below 13 years, early marriage, parity more than 4, taking oral contraceptive pills as a method of contraception, do not feed to their child, most of them are housewife’s and have a family history of breast cancer. Age at menarche starts at the age below 13 years, early marriage, parity more than 4, taking oral contraceptive pills as a method of contraception, do not feed to the child and family history were highlighted as significant risk factors for breast cancer in Indian women. Hence, effective methods with routine organized screening programs are recommended to detect early breast cancer.