População

Abstract

Introduction: Despite efforts to raise awareness of the population, the incidence and mortality due to breast cancer in Brazilian women remain high. Objective: To assess the level of knowledge of the Brazilian population about the risk factors that lead to the development of this disease. Method: A structured online questionnaire was sent through social networks and e-mail from September to December 2021. Participants were divided into subgroups (education, profession, gender, proximity to individuals affected by the disease and age groups) and the chi-square test was performed to verify significant differences between them. Results: Analyzing the 200 valid responses from the sample as a whole, the hit rate was high, reaching over 70%. By comparing subgroups, significant results were identified for the analyzes related to education (p=0.016), profession (p=0.004), gender (p=0.045) and proximity to the disease (p=0.004), where it was found that the lowest rates of correct answers were from individuals with lowest level of education, not working in health-related activities, males and who had no contact with someone with the disease. Conclusion: It was possible to evaluate the knowledge of the participants on the subject. The current actions taken by scientific dissemination groups and institutions to combat breast cancer are valid for some subgroups, however, they need to improve outreaching to individuals with less education, who are not working in health-related activities and males.