Knowledge and awareness of breast cancer in Muslim population of Belagavi city: A population survey

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is a common cancer seen in women. The awareness of breast cancer plays an important role in the early detection and prevention of the disease, but due to lack of awareness regarding breast cancer screening, most of the cases are detected at later stages, which leads to lower rates of recovery. The presently aimed to evaluate the knowledge and awareness of breast cancer among the Muslim female population in Belagavi city, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 97 Muslim Women, and a direct semi-structured questionnaire was administered to collect data. Results: Our results indicated a low knowledge about breast cancer, breast self-examination, mammogram, and clinical breast examination. In total, 29% of women had knowledge regarding breast self-examination, but due to lack of practice, they never performed self-examination. The most common barrier for screening methods of breast cancer was that women were unaware of half of the screening methods and other barriers were related to their religious beliefs. Social media was found to be the main source of information among the female. Conclusions: In conclusion, the majority of women showed poor knowledge about breast cancer and screening methods. Additional effort should be put forth through women to increase the awareness of breast cancer screening, indicating the need to continue emphasizing the importance of early detection of breast cancer in the early stages.