"Barriers for early detection of breast cancer among South Indian women" by Defny D'Almeida and T. Latha
 

Barriers for early detection of breast cancer among South Indian women

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Indian Journal of Community Medicine

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common neoplasms in women across the world. Early diagnosis of breast cancer results in reduced morbidity, mortality, and improved quality of life. Objective: This study was conducted to identify the barriers among Indian women diagnosed with breast cancer in an advanced stage. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Southern India, among breast cancer patients. A total of 202 women with breast cancer (Stage 3 and 4) were recruited based on the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data were collected using a demographic proforma and barrier checklist and analyzed using SPSS 16.0 version. Results: The mean age of the women was 51.5 ± 10.7 years. The majority of them were Hindu (87.6%), housewives (69.8%), with primary education (39.6%). The women have cited several barriers including financial (54.5%), lack of knowledge about breast cancer (49.5%), frightened about diagnostic test result (56.9%), afraid of anticipated surgery (54.5%), and the dearth of accessibility to health resources (52%). Conclusions: The presence of barriers in early diagnosis of breast cancer occurs in various contexts and should be recognized and minimized by all health-care providers to reduce the associated health-care cost, morbidity, and mortality.

First Page

706

Last Page

709

DOI

10.4103/ijcm.IJCM_751_20

Publication Date

10-1-2021

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