A Cross Sectional Study of the Knowledge and Practice of Self-Breast Examination among Market Women at the Makola Shopping Mall, Accra, Ghana

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide. With an estimated incidence of 1,676,633 with 521,817 deaths in the year 2012, the figure is expected to hit the 82.5 millionth mark by 2015. Breast cancer screening is reported to be extremely low in most low-middle income countries like Ghana. This study was to determine the knowledge and practices of self-breast examination among market women at Makola Shopping Mall in Accra, Ghana. Methods: The study was conducted at the Makola Shopping Mall in Accra among women above the age of 20 years who owned a store and sell at the mall. Data were collected using mixed method involving in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey. Random samples of 170 participants were selected from a population of 400 for the quantitative survey. A total of eight in-depth interviews were conducted to generate qualitative data to complement the survey data. Results: Majority (60%) of the respondents were between the ages of 20 - 40 years. There’s a high literacy rate among the participants. Though awareness of self-breast examination was very high (93%), only 27% practiced self-breast examination in line with the recommended one week period after menses due to lack of knowledge of the basic skills to do self-breast examination. Conclusion: In view of the lack of knowledge resulting in non-performance of self-breast examination, continuous education on breast cancer screening should be given to the women to enable them acquire the skills of performing self-breast examination to promote early detection of the disease.

The Value of Clinical Breast Examination, Imaging, and Fine Needle Aspiration and the Challenge of Diagnosing Breast Cancer in a Low Resource Setting: A Hospital-Based Analytical Study in Yaounde

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world, as well as in Cameroon, where it represents about 20.1% of all cancers recorded in 2020. The number of pathologists in the country is as few as seven for a population of about 26 million. The diagnostic performances of diagnostic modalities other than histology—clinical breast examination (CBE), imaging and fine needle aspiration and cytology (FNA)—in our context are not known. Study Objectives: Our objectives were to estimate the proportions of cases managed with mammography, breast ultrasound and FNA and to estimate the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy of CBE, mammography, breast ultrasound and FNA;using histology as reference. Study Methodology: The study was cross-sectional and analytical, and was carried out at the Yaoundé General Hospital. It lasted twelve months, April 2015 through March 2016 and covered the period January 2010 to February 2016. Using histology as reference, we calculated measures of diagnostic accuracy for all four modalities using the statistical methods of Galen and Gambino. Results: We recruited 107 cases, 105 females (98.1%) and 02 males. We had 112 breast lumps, 106 malignant (94.6%) and 6 benign. The mean lump size was 61.1 mm. The most frequently used diagnostic tool after CBE was FNA (49.1%), while the diagnostic accuracies were 76.8%, 79.1%, 82.9%, and 82.0% for CBE, breast US, mammography and FNA. Conclusion: The four baseline diagnostic modalities for breast cancer are used sub-optimally and FNA appears to be the most commonly used in our setting after CBE. We recommend that FNA should be considered for diagnosis as appropriate but a negative result should not stop the quest for histological elimination of presence of malignancy.

An Assessment of the Knowledge and Practice of Self Breast Examination (BSE) amongst University Students

Objective: This study sought to assess the knowledge and practice of breast self-examination (BSE) amongst students in the Department of Nursing Science of a tertiary institution in Benin City, Edo State towards self breast examination (SBE). Methods: A descriptive, cross sectional study was conducted in the nursing department of a tertiary institution in Benin City, Edo state. The age range of the study population was between 17-31 years. Convenient sampling technique was used to select 200 female students. The instrument used was a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into 4 sections: i) Bio-data;ii) knowledge of self breast examination;iii) practice self breast examination;iv) factors affecting SBE. Results: The results of this study indicated that majority of the students were knowledgeable about self breast examination and majority of them practiced self breast examination. The alternate hypothesis which stated that there was a significant difference between factors affecting SBE was retained and the mean values revealed that “forgetfulness” as a factor had the highest mean value. This meant that “forgetfulness” was a potent factor to SBE among the respondents studied. Conclusion: The students in this tertiary institution were aware of self breast examination and they did practice it. Studies like these could enhance the knowledge regarding BSE among nurses and other health professionals.

Knowledge and Awareness of Breast Cancer among Young Women in the United Arab Emirates

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It carries poor prognosis when detected late. Patients usually present at late stages due to lack of awareness of various aspects of breast cancer. Aim: The objective of this study is to gain insight into the level of knowledge of breast cancer among young adult females in UAE. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among females aged 25 to 45. A total of 492 females were selected using a convenience sampling method. Data were collected through an interview-based questionnaire. Frequency distributions and percentages were used to describe the knowledge tested within the questionnaire. Results: The mean age of the participants was 33.5 years. Almost 27% of our participants received a high school degree. The average total knowledge of our population was 51%. The majority (89%) knew that breast cancer is common and 45% knew that it affects ages above forty. The knowledge of signs and symptoms was 53%, and more than half (57%) knew that the most common presenting sign is a breast lump. The knowledge of risk factors was 43%. Almost 94% knew that cancer can be detected early, and 93% knew that early diagnosis improves outcome. The total knowledge of screening methods was 67%. Conclusion: The study revealed that respondents’ knowledge of breast cancer is less than expected. The increased burden of the disease should be accompanied by powerful means of spreading awareness by implementing campaigns that would improve knowledge deficits.