Awareness of breast cancer risk factors and early detection measures and associated factors among nurses and midwives at Mulago Hospital

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting women, and second cause of cancer death in the world, with more than one million cases occurring worldwide annually. The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is about 1 in 8. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 35. In Uganda, breast cancer is second most common cancer (23.4%), after Cervix uteri (45.8%). The five year breast cancer survival is 39% for advanced disease and 74% for early disease, with overall survival of 56%. This poor prognosis in Ugandans is most probably due to patients seeking medical attention, and presenting at late stage IV of the cancer; factors responsible for this late stage presentation are not systematically spelt out. Objective: To determine the awareness of breast cancer risk factor and early detection methods, and associated factors among nurses and midwives working in Mulago hospital Methodology: A cross-sectional study, which was carried out in Mulago National Referral Hospital from January to March 2009. A total of 405 nurses where interviewed using simple random sampling with proportional allocation to size of departments. The awareness of breast cancer risk factors and early detection awareness were categorized into good or poor on the basis of twelve key items. Results: The awareness of breast cancer risk factors among nurses and midwives working in Mulago national referral and teaching hospital was low (09%). Awareness was increasingly associated with working experience, having cared for a breast cancer patient and continued education (OR= 2.20, 95% CI = 1.02-4.71), (OR= 5.49, 95% CI = 2.08-14.48), and (OR= 1.99, 95% CI = 0.79-5.02) respectively. The awareness of breast cancer early detection measures among nurses and midwives working in Mulago national referral and teaching hospital was low (25.4%). Awareness was increasingly associated with age, gender, marital status, experience, occupation, educational level, having cared for a breast cancer patient (OR= 1.91, 95% CI = 1.12- 3.26) and continued education. Conclusion: The awareness of breast cancer risk factors and early detection measures was generally low among nurses and midwives working in Mulago national referral and teaching hospital were low. The age, gender, marital status, working experience, occupation, having cared for a breast cancer patient and continued education had a positive influence on the awareness of breast cancer risk factors. These results provide important baseline information and may be used to develop tailored breast cancer education programs, increase primary and secondary prevention efforts, and evaluate the effectiveness of prevention programs.