Knowledge of Breast Cancer Risk Factors and Screening Practices Among Female Patients at ATBUTH Bauchi.

Abstract

Breast cancer is a global public health problem and is currently the second leading cause of cancers word wide and the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women with 2.3 million new cases (11.6%) reported in 2022. There are low survival rates for breast cancer among women in West Africa due to late presentation.

This was a cross-sectional, descriptive survey conducted among two hundred and twenty five (225) female patients at ATBUTH Bauchi. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and utilization of breast cancer screening measures among respondents. Data was exported and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 24.

Most of the study respondents (92.9%) have heard of breast cancer and most of them know that older women (73.4%), having a family member with breast cancer (62.7%) and lack of breastfeeding (59.1%) increases a woman’s risk. Few respondents (40.9%) practice monthly BSE. Less than half of study respondents (42.7%) have had CBE before and very few (7.6%) have had mammography before.

Most of the respondents have heard of breast cancer and are aware of some of the risk factors for breast cancer. However, there’s low utilization of breast cancer screening methods.