A study on awareness about breast carcinoma and practice of breast self-examination among basic sciences’ college students, Bengaluru

BACKGROUND: In India, the number of new breast cancer cases is about 115,000 per year and this is expected to rise to 250,000 new cases per year by 2015. It needs to be noted that breast cancer is leading in the age groups of 15–34 years which is a cause of concern as this denotes the need for educative and awareness programs targeting younger members of the society, to implement early practices of breast examination. This study was carried out with the intention of assessing the level of knowledge and awareness of carcinoma breast and breast self-examination (BSE) in female college students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out in a well-known basic sciences college. After the pretest questionnaire was given, an awareness talk was given about breast cancer and BSE. A posttest questionnaire was administered. The data of pre- and post-test were collected and analyzed using SPSS. RESULTS: Pretest and posttest were collected from 1030 students. The age of the study participants was ranged between 18 and 23 years. Most of them were aware of breast carcinoma, but half of them thought breast cancer affects the elderly. Regarding different aspects studied, 58% had a knowledge of at least one of the symptoms and 59% knew at least one of the risk factors for breast carcinoma. Only 185 (18%) women knew about BSE and 107 women practice it. CONCLUSIONS: This study concluded that the awareness of the breast cancer was good but the knowledge of signs and BSE was poor, which is utmost important for early detection and in reduction of mortality.