Determinants of breast cancer awareness and screening practices of women within Tamale, Ghana

Abstract

Breast cancer is now ranked the most common cancer worldwide, increasing from 1.7 million incident cases in 2005 to 2.4 million cases in 2015. Both early detection and treatment have been shown to be the most effective methods to address the impact of this devastating disease. This study assessed the determinants of breast cancer awareness and practice of breast cancer screening among women in the Tamale, Ghana. A cross-sectional survey of 396 adult women, chosen by stratified random sampling was undertaken using a questionnaire. Results showed that the majority of the respondents were below 40 years of age (75.5%). Almost all participants (99.0%) had heard of breast cancer (awareness). Interestingly, the majority (51.3%) knows the cause of breast cancer to be bacteria. The most practiced method of screening was breast self-examination (86.4%), clinical breast examination and mammogram had 77.3%. We found that 93.4% of the population respectively never practiced either. Age, religious affiliations and ethnicities were seen to have statistically significant relations to awareness and practice.