Mammography Screening: Female Doctors Attitudes and Practice in Sana ’ a, Yemen

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted at the main hospitals in Sana’a, Yemen to determine the attitude andpractice of Yemen female doctors on mammography screening. Study subjects were all female doctors who wereon duty during the questionnaire distribution. Those who agreed to participate were given the questionnaire tocomplete. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse socio-demographic variables and variables related to generalhealth. Participants in this study were 105 female doctors with mean age of 32.13 years (SD = 7.17). Thirty-fourrespondents (36.6%) did not send asymptomatic women for mammography screening. The reasons were becauseof high cost (58.0%, n=25), availability of other methods (23.3%, n=10), instrument not available (11.6%, n=5)and high risk of radiation (7.0%, n=3). Twenty-five participants (26.9%) sent patients on regular basis if therewas a family or personal history of breast cancer. Twenty-three participants (24.7%) sent the patients formammogram screening every year regardless of the patients’ history or symptoms. Although most doctors(36.5%) do not refer patients for mammography screening, seventy-seven (74.0%) indicated that they wouldrefer patients for mammography screening on personal request by the patients. This study showed a lowpercentage of doctors who referred patients for routine mammography. The major reason given was the highcost of the procedure.