Breast Cancer Knowledge and Mammography Uptake among Women Aged 40 Years and Above in Calabar Municipality, Nigeria

Abstract

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.

Socio-demographic determinants of mammography uptake among women 40 years and above in Calabar, South-South, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

“…However, these findings contrast greatly with the rate of mammography uptake in developed countries [ 8 , 29 ] where it is regarded as the gold standard in breast cancer diagnosis [ 1 , 11 , 12 ]. This brings to the fore the breast cancer control differential between the developing and developed countries, rooted in lack of recognized national screening programs, coupled with overall weak health systems in the former [ 11 , 12 , 16 , 21 , 25 ]. These have been touted as contributory factors to the rising breast cancer burden in LMICs with its concomitant effects on breast cancer outcomes [ 3 , 6 ].…”

“…While the lack of established national screening programme may be suggested as a major factor limiting mammography uptake, many authors have implicated poor knowledge about breast cancer and mammography, particularly in developing countries [ 12 , 15 , 16 , 25 ]. Good knowledge has been recognized to positively influence not only the adoption of health-seeking behaviour, but also reduces myths and misconceptions about disease conditions, thereby facilitating a reduction in disease burden [ 6 , 20 , 25 ].…”

“…The overall low uptake of mammography in this study ties closely to the high proportion of respondents that reported lack of knowledge about mammography as a major barrier to uptake. This thus presents justification why awareness about breast cancer should be at the core of its control programmes [ 12 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 21 ].…”

“…It is recommended that women should initiate yearly mammograms at the age of 40 years [ 1 ]. Despite the high sensitivity and specificity of mammography in detecting early breast cancer and its benefits, the level of utilization/uptake remains low in low and middle income countries [ 6 , 12 - 16 ]. Some of the reasons advanced by these authors were the lack of knowledge on mammography, cost of services, high technology equipment, and the dearth of experts required for the screening.…”

Knowledge, and practice of women on breast cancer in Herat, Afghanistan: A cross-sectional study

“…Human capital development, which subsumes education and employment, has been shown to have positive effects on health [18]. In this regard, building the capacity of women on how they view themselves is a key driver toward minimizing disparities in breast cancer disparities in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) [9,19,20].…”