Breast Self-Examination Knowledge And Practice Among Newly Diagnosed Patients Of Carcinoma Breast

Objective: The purpose of this study was to study the association of breast self-examination knowledge and practice with socio-demographic characteristics and stage at presentation in newly diagnosed patients of carcinoma breast. Methodology: This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at Outpatient department of General surgery in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad from 01-01-16 to 31-12-16. One hundred ninety-one patients consenting to participate in the study were included. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data, along with socio-demographic characteristics which was analyzed using IBM SPSS 24. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were performed to correlate demographic variables, knowledge and regular practice of BSE. Results: Mean age of the study population was 50.46 (+ 11.74) with a range from 23 to 77 years. In our study, significant relationships (p<0.05) were found between knowledge and practice of BSE with age, marital status, education level, living area and socioeconomic status. A non-significant relation was found with knowledge and practice of BSE with family history and practice of BSE in housewives. We found that a patient who presented in stage I and II (n=96) had a good or fair knowledge of BSE whereas patients in stage III and IV (n=43) had poor or no knowledge about BSE. Although maximum no of patients occasionally practice BSE (n=103) but we found that patients (n=14) in Stage I and II regularly practice BSE as compared to patients (n=54) in stage III and IV who never practice BSE. Almost all the patients in stage I (n=43) had a concept about the usefulness of BSE in the early detection of breast cancer whereas all the patients presenting with stage IV (n=20) had no concept about BSE. Conclusion: The results of our study has reinforced the role of knowledge and education in the practice of breast self-examination. There is a need for health education programs about breast cancer and its early detection to positively impact the disease burden in our population.