International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | November 2017 | Vol 4 | Issue 11 Page 4341 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Singh R et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017 Nov;4(11):4341-4347 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article A study to assess the knowledge regarding breast cancer and practices of breast self-examination among women in urban area Rakesh Singh, Alka Turuk* INTRODUCTION In this era of epidemiological transition where non communicable diseases are on significant rise more so in terms of cancer, stringent efforts are needed to curb this epidemic. 1-7 Breast cancer is amongst the most common cancer in women both in the developed and the developing world whose incidence is increasing specially in the developing world due to increased life expectancy, increase urbanization and adoption of unhealthy stressful lifestyles. 8,9 Age standardised incidence rate in India is about 25.8 per 100,000 women that is roughly 1 in 4000 are females affected. 10 Breast cancer unlike other type of cancer is an easily screen able cancer, effects an easily visible organ and have an effective treatment 11 . The 5-year survival rate is 85% with early detection whereas later detection decreases the survival rate to 56%. 12 One of the major cause of low survival rate of breast cancer patients in developing country is lack of early diagnosis, inadequate diagnosis or effective treatment. Early diagnosis is aided by early reporting of patients to the health care set up. ABSTRACT Background: Out of all cancers, breast cancer only is responsible for 1.5 lakh cases (10%) of cancer burden in India by 2016. The present study was carried out among women in an urban area with objective to assess knowledge of women in age group 20-60 years regarding causes and risk factors of breast cancer and their practice regarding breast self-examination. An association between the socio-demographic variables and knowledge of women regarding breast cancer and breast self-examination was sought for and an attempt was made to demonstrate individually to each woman included in the study, the correct method of performing BSE. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted. Total 100 subjects were selected by multistage sampling technique. Structured questionnaire were used to test their knowledge about breast cancer and practice regarding BSE. Results: Out of 100 women, 58% had knowledge that breast cancer was the most prevalent cancer among women, 52% knew what breast self-examination is and 28% were practicing breast self-examination. Conclusions: There is a need for developing health education programs about symptoms and early signs of breast cancer with emphasis on the importance of early breast cancer detection. Breast self-examination should be encouraged. The health education programs and mass media education should be targeted towards females in the age group between 20 years and above, ideally those 35 years of age and above. Further research regarding knowledge and practice of women towards breast cancer is recommended. Keywords: KAP, Breast cancer, BSE Department of Community Medicine, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Received: 20 September 2017 Accepted: 10 October 2017 *Correspondence: Dr. Alka Turuk, E-mail: alaka.turuk@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20174856