BREAST CANCER AWARENESS AND BREAST EXAMINATION PRACTICES AMONG WOMEN IN A NIGERDELTA HOSPITAL

BACKGROUND: There is a high proportion of advanced breast tumors in Nigerian women with consequent mortality. In the absence of a population based screening, self/clinical breast examination, should be utilized to increase the proportions of early breast cancers.

METHODS; The setting is Central Hospital Warri, Delta, Nigeria. The population was patients visiting the general out-patient department of Central Hospital Warri. The study tool was an interviewer-administered questionnaire, designed to assess the awareness of breast cancer and breast examination practices of the women visiting the outpatient department of the hospital.

RESULTS: The respondents ranged between 20-80 years. Breast cancer awareness was noted in 96.1% of respondents.  Forty-three point six percent of respondents knew breast cancer begins with a breast lump. Self-breast examination had been practiced in 45.5% of respondents. Of this number, 83.3% of the practitioners did so at least monthly. Clinical breast examination had been experienced in 15.6% of respondents. The practice of self-breast examination was significantly associated with previous breast complaints RR 6.2 P 0.0001, a previous breast procedure RR 9.2 P 0.0001, previous clinical breast examination RR 2.9 P 0.0001 and having a family member or acquaintance with breast cancer RR 2.5 P 0.0001.

CONCLUSION: The awareness of breast cancer is quite high. However less than half of respondents practiced self-breast examination. Practice of clinical breast examination is quite low.