Poor Knowledge and Practice Towards Breast Cancer among Women in Baghdad City, Iraq

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among females worldwide. The aim of thisstudy was to assess the knowledge and practice about breast cancer and its related factors among women inBaghdad city, Iraq. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 508 women aged18 to 55 years from four non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Baghdad city, Iraq. A self-administeredquestionnaire on breast cancer knowledge and practice was distributed to participants during weekly activityof the NGO. <br/><b>Results</b>: A total of 61.2% of the respondents had poor knowledge, only 30.3% performed breastself-examination (BSE) and 41.8% said that they did not know the technique to perform BSE. Associationsbetween knowledge and marital status and age were significant. For practice, working status, education, ageand family income were significant. After controlling for cofounders, the most important contributing factorsfor poor knowledge among respondents were marital status and not performing BSE, with adjusted odds ratioof 1.6 and 1.8 respectively. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Breast cancer knowledge and practice of BSE are poor among womenin Baghdad city, Iraq. More promotion regarding breast cancer signs and symptoms and also how to performBSE should be conducted using media such as television and internet as these constituted the main sources ofinformation for most women in our study.