Three breast cancer diagnosis approaches: Prevalence of Practice among Isfahanian women aged 20 – 65 Years Old in 2012

Introduction: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and the most frequent cancer among women. Self-breast exam, clinical exam and mammography are three approaches for early detection of breast problem. This study aims to compare frequency of these three approaches among Isfahanian women and reasons for not taking it. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which carried out on 10,000 women aged 20-65. Data were collected through a face-to-face interview. Practice was defined as taking, at least, one of three ways of breast cancer diagnosis. Logistic regression was fitted to indicate predictor of practice at 5% significance level Results: 96% of women attended the interview. Of those, 5880(61%) had already taken self-breast exam, 4613(48%) clinical exam, and 1427(15%) mammography. Not having any breast problem, was the most important reason for those not done any of these ways. Other reasons were reported as lack of knowledge on how to do breast self-exam (823), not important to attend a clinic(1345), and it was not necessary to do mammography(1750). 72% (6936) women had already taken, at least, one of these three ways. Age, being employed, having college education, having husband with higher education, having an employed husband were positive predictors of practice Conclusion: The most frequent approach to detect any breast problem was self-exam. Not feeling any breast problem and lack of knowledge on how to do breast self-exam were important reasons not to takeany diagnosis breast problem detection. Educating women is the main message of this study.

کلیدواژه ها:

Prevalence ، Breast Self-Exam ، Clinical exam ، Breast Cancer ، Mammography