Knowledge and Preventive Practices of Pakistani Women for Breast Cancer

Breast cancer incidence rates, pattern of presentation and survival rates vary worldwide. High incidence, advanced stage disease presentation and low survival rates have been reported from Pakistan. Lack of awareness and screening facilities along with poor socioeconomic status are the main causes. A survey based upon multiple choice questionnaires was conducted during an awareness campaign in women educational institutions of Lahore, to assess the baseline knowledge, attitude towards breast self examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and source of information used by them. 1155 filled questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS version 12. Majority (83.7%) of the respondents were <30 years old, 60% had >10 and 31.5% had >14 years of education. Only 27% had “good” while 14% had “poor” and 59% had “fair” knowledge scores about breast cancer. Television was the most commonly cited source of information but was associated with lower knowledge score. The knowledge scores and practice of BSE had a positive association with education level. The respondents had better knowledge of life time risk and association of early diagnosis with better chances of cure, but worse knowledge of risk factors as compared to women in educational institutions of other countries. Generally the respondents of present study had low level of knowledge of breast cancer. Properly designed awareness campaign on television and in educational institutions can be effective to raise the knowledge level, the best long term strategy for this purpose.