Knowledge and awareness of breast cancer and breast self-examination among college-going female students in Delhi-NCR: a cross sectional study

Abstract

PurposeBreast cancer (BC) presents a major public health challenge world-over including India. While several risk-factors, early signs and symptoms of BC are known, the knowledge and awareness of this disease remains poor among the population. The present study aimed to determine the extent of knowledge and awareness of BC, its risk factors, early signs and symptoms and breast self-examination (BSE) practice as an early detection method among Indian college-going female students.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a cross-sectional survey at a University in Delhi-NCR. Data on socio-demographic, knowledge and awareness of BC including BSE was collected using a pretested questionnaire. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis was performed. All tests were two-sided and significance was set at p < 0.05.FindingsA total of 866 female students participated in the study with mean age of 22.32 (±0.146) years having mean body mass index (BMI) of 21.22 (±3.52). As high as 82.1% of the participants had heard of BC but while 74.8% thought early detection is possible, 70.7% believed BC cannot be prevented. Gene mutations (60.2%) were identified as a significant risk factor, while breast pain (61.4%) was commonly recognized as a sign of BC. Only 29.8% of students ever performed BSE. Increased odds of performing BSE (OR = 3.4) was found among students who recognized gene mutations as an important BC risk factor.Research limitations/implicationsKnowledge and awareness of BC including BSE among female college students were found to be below average. It is suggested that there is an urgent need for increasing BC awareness among young girls through workshops and mobile-health interventions.Practical implicationsThis study provides new information on the level of knowledge and awareness of BC risk factors, sign and symptoms and self-examination practice among young college girls. Moreover, this study advocates the need for design and implementation of a sustainable digital health model for active population BC screening, which is not being done currently.Social implicationsBC is a highly aggressive disease, which is now one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in India and world over. Although the knowledge of BC risk factors and its signs and symptoms have increased, the awareness of these elements among the general population at large is low and/or missing, especially in India. Furthermore, as a consequence of unorganized screening programs in the country, majority of women are presenting young with locally advanced disease. Understanding the existing level of knowledge and educating school, college and University students of the pertinent factors and screening practices such as BSE could drastically help in improving the self-screening and/or clinical examination rates. This could potentially lead to early detection and improved prognosis, thus ameliorating disease burden.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few studies conducted in India among young female college students belonging to non-medical backgrounds, delineating the level of knowledge and awareness of BC risk factors and signs and symptoms along with practice of early detection method such as BSE. The study has a considerable sample size and provides valuable evidence for a need to implement programs incorporating digital health models for accelerating awareness and screening of young girls in both rural and urban settings.

Knowledge and Practice of Breast Self-Examination (BSE) Among Urban Women of a Low-Resource Country

“…Our study results are comparable with a study conducted in Karachi by Rasool et al in 2019 reported that 24.9% participants performed BSE monthly 8 . Our results inconsistent to another study carried out by Das AM et al in India revealed that only 29.8% of their study participants performed BSE monthly 18 . (18) This study suggested that only a small percentage of females perform BSE monthly which might be the reason for the late detection of Ca breast and its increased prevalence in Pakistan.…”

“…Our results inconsistent to another study carried out by Das AM et al in India revealed that only 29.8% of their study participants performed BSE monthly 18 . (18) This study suggested that only a small percentage of females perform BSE monthly which might be the reason for the late detection of Ca breast and its increased prevalence in Pakistan. A small number of our study participants practices BSE after menses and majority of them performed BSE while bathing.…”

Impact of Web-Based Educational Intervention on Preventive Behaviors of Breast Cancer among Damanhour University Female Students

“…It is crucial to arm these women, whether they are younger or older, with a strong degree of knowledge and practice skills regarding this lethal condition since a motivated woman adheres better to public activities. (22) Based on this fact, the current study attempted to determine your level of knowledge among studied sample and indicated that, majority of them had poor level of knowledge about breast cancer. This result was in accordance with the study performed by Anuwe et al, (2020), (23) Qasim et al, (2020) (24) and Ahmed H et al, (2018) (25) who found that around half of university students had poor level of knowledge about breast cancer and its early symptoms.…”