Background: Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women globally. Early screening remains a critical approach to reducing morbidity and mortality. Mammography, one of such screening tools, is vital in improving outcomes and survival. However, poor knowledge and ignorance have been touted as major barriers to health services uptake in Low/Middle-income countries. This study therefore determined breast cancer knowledge and mammography uptake among women aged ≥40 years in Calabar Municipality. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to elicit information from 365 women that were randomly selected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS version 20. The results were descriptively presented by frequencies and percentages. Pearson Chi-Square (ꭓ2) analysis was performed to detect the association between variables at 5% level of significance (p-value of ≤ 0.05). Results: Majority of the 365 study participants 121 (33.3%) were aged between 40 – 44 years and had attained tertiary level of education 231 (63.2%). Most of the respondents had low knowledge score 214 (58.6%) of breast cancer and mammography. Only 36 (9.9%) of the respondents have had mammography out of which most 22 (61.0%) used it only once. Knowledge level of breast cancer and mammography was statistically significantly associated with uptake (p = .00001). Conversely knowledge of breast cancer and mammography was not statistically significantly associated with educational attainment (p = .54). Conclusions: Knowledge level of breast cancer and uptake of mammography among women aged ≥40 in Calabar Municipality was very poor. The need to increase awareness about breast cancer and breast cancer screening are highly advocated.
Introduction mammography has the potential for identifying high risk women with breast cancer. Early detection is important in reducing mortality and morbidity, and crucial for better prognosis. Mammography is poorly practiced in Nigeria. This study assessed the association between socio-demographic characteristics and uptake of mammography among women ≥40 years. Methods a cross-sectional descriptive study design was employed and data was collected from 365 consenting participants in Calabar, Nigeria, using pre-tested questionnaire. SPSS Version 20 was used for data entry and analysis. The results were descriptively presented by frequencies and percentages. Pearson Chi-Square (χ 2 ) analysis was performed to detect the association between variables at 5% level of significance (p-value of ≤0.05). Results only 9.9% of participants had a mammography, majority 90.1% never had. Uptake was highest among respondents with tertiary education, married, Civil/Public Servants, and those in the high income level categorization. Educational status, marital status, occupation and age were not statistically significantly associated with mammography uptake (p>0.05). Only religious denominational affiliation (p = 0.02) and income level (p = 0.002) were statistically significantly associated with uptake. Barriers to uptake were poor knowledge about mammography (49.8%), psychosocial (37.8%), economic (17.1%) and health systems (11.5%). Key facilitators to uptake were encouragement/counselling by health workers (44.0%) and presence of breast problems (37.4%). Conclusion mammography uptake in Calabar, Nigeria was extremely low. Therefore, regular awareness campaigns targeting women at faith-based settings, and provision of mammography screening services at subsidized rates will enhance knowledge level and uptake of mammography.
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