Breast cancer awareness and breast self-examination in Northern Saudi Arabia. A preliminary survey

OBJECTIVE: To elicit knowledge of breast cancer, perception of occurrence, and behavior in relation to breast self-examination (BSE).

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out at the Department of Pathology, Medical College, University of Hail, Hail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for local occupants from Hail city and its rural neighborhood between September 2010 and February 2012. A personal interview-administered descriptive questionnaire and both descriptive and inferential statistics were used.

RESULTS: A total of 1000 participants agreed to be involved, out of which 87.7% were females, 7.2% were males and 5.1% had undisclosed gender. The age range for participants was 12-66 years. Out of all participants, 44% did not know that breast cancer is an abnormal growth and 78% failed to recognise its multi-factorial nature, with Increased age being the least recognised single risk factor 4.8%. Scores showed that 61.5% had a low level of breast cancer related knowledge. Out of the participants who knew of someone who had breast cancer 73%, 50.1% said the disease was discovered at a Late stage mainly by Chance. Data for BSE indicated that 50.1% of female participants >16 years old did not practice BSE, and Fear was the main declared perceived reason.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates a low level of fundamental knowledge of breast cancer and fear to practice BSE.