• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권17호
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• pp.7175-7180
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Malaysia, about one in 19 women being at risk. This study aimed to investigate knowledge and practice of breast self-examination (BSE), as well as knowledge of risk factors for breast cancer amongst female adolescents in Malaysia. Subsequently, relationships between demographic characteristics and knowledge level of BSE, risk factors for breast cancer and BSE practice were assessed. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross sectional survey was conducted using a sample of 500 Malaysian adolescents from the age of 15 to 19 years. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of BSE, knowledge of risk factors for breast cancer and BSE practices. Results: The findings of this study indicated that female adolescents in Malaysia demonstrated an inadequate knowledge level of BSE and risk factors for breast cancer. Only 27.8% of female adolescents performed BSE regularly. BSE practice, knowledge of BSE and knowledge of risk factors for breast cancer showed significant positive relationships. Conclusions: The study highlighted the importance of planning and implementing breast health education programs for female students in secondary schools in Malaysia. It will also provide the health care providers an avenue to stress on the importance of imparting breast health education to adolescents.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.191-194
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• 2015

Purpose: To estimate the incidence of breast cancer in Yemeni female patients presenting with a breast mass. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out with 595 female patients with palpable breast lumps, attending to Alkuwait university hospital, Sana'a, Yemen. Triple assessment, including breast examination, mammography and biopsy (FNAC, core needle, or excision), for all patients were performed. Results: The incidences of benign and malignant lesions was calculated. Some 160 (26.9%) of 595 patients had malignancies; 213 (35.8%) were fibroadenomas; 12 (2.0%) were fibrocystic change; 143 (24.03%) were inflammatory lesions (including mastitis and ductectasia); 62 (10.4%) were simple cysts, while 5 (0.8%) were phyllodes tumors. The mean age of patients with malignant lumps was 44.3 years. Conclusions: Among Yemeni female patients with palpable breast lumps, the rate of breast cancer is high, with occurrence at an earlier age than in Western countries. Improving breast cancer awareness programs and increasing breast cancer screening centers inb different areas of Yemen are needed to establish early diagnosis and offer early and optimal treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권5호
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• pp.1719-1724
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• 2015

Background: Breast and cervical cancers are the most common types of cancer in women worldwide. Previous studies in Asia have shown that related knowledge and awareness is low among female university students. The goal of this study was to assess breast and cervical cancer knowledge, practices, and awareness among female university students in Samsun,Turkey. Materials and Methods: This research was a cross-sectional survey of female university students using a self-administered. questionnaire to investigate participant awareness and knowledge of breast and cervical cancer. A total of 301 female university students participated. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests were used for data analysis. Results: The mean age of the participants in this study was $22.0{\pm}5.91$ years. Regarding family history, 89.7 % of the students had no known familial history of breast cancer. Students (65.4%) had knowledge about breast self examination and 52.2 % of them had performed breast self examinationm while 55.1% of them had knowledge about prevention of cervical cancer. Conclusions: Although the results are preliminary, the study points to an insufficient knowledge of university students in Samsun about breast and cervical cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권11호
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• pp.5525-5528
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• 2012

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Improvements of early diagnosis modalities have led to longer survival rates. This study aimed to determine the 5, 10 and 15 year mortality rates of breast cancer patients compared to the normal female population. Materials and Methods: The follow up data of a cohort of 615 breast cancer patients referred to Iranian Breast Cancer Research Center (BCRC) from 1986 to 1996 was considered as reference breast cancer dataset. The dataset was divided into 5 year age groups and the 5, 10 and 15 year probability of death for each group was estimated. The annual mortality rate of Iranian women was obtained from the Death Registry system. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) of breast cancer patients were calculated using the ratio of the mortality rate in breast cancer patients over the general female population. Results: The mean age of breast cancer patients at diagnosis time was 45.9 (${\pm}10.5$) years ranging from 24-74. A total of 73, 32 and 2 deaths were recorded at 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively, after diagnosis. The SMRs for breast cancer patients at 5, 10 and 15 year intervals after diagnosis were 6.74 (95% CI, 5.5-8.2), 6.55 (95%CI, 5-8.1) and 1.26 (95%CI, 0.65-2.9), respectively. Conclusion: Results showed that the observed mortality rate of breast cancer patients after 15 years from diagnosis was very similar to expected rates in general female population. This finding would be useful for clinicians and health policy makers to adopt a beneficial strategy to improve breast cancer survival. Further follow-up time with larger sample size and a pooled analysis of survival rates of different centres may shed more light on mortality patterns of breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권17호
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• pp.7707-7711
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• 2015

A cross-sectional survey of 370 female teachers working at Governmental schools in Gaza city was conducted. Twenty four schools were selected randomly of all female schools of the city that included primary, preparatory and secondary. In each school all-female teachers aged 35-45 year were invited to fill out a self-administered questionnaire to investigate knowledge and behavior toward breast cancer screening. The survey revealed that more than 75% of women had never undergone clinical breast examination and 60% had never undergone mammography, whereas 62% performed breast self-examination (BSE). Women who performed BSE had significantly higher knowledge about breast cancer screening (P=0.001). Women attending CBE and mammography screening also had significantly higher knowledge (P=0.001). There were significant associations between the practices and presence of positive breast cancer family history (P=0.002) and the level of education of husbands (P=0.024). The oldest women demonstrated higher performance rates of screening methods than the youngest (P=0.001). Lack of breast screening knowledge was identified among more than one third of the women, and 24.6% of women did not know any screening method. About a half of women harboured misconceptions about breast cancer screening, including the belief that breast cancer not treatable. Women residing in Gaza city (P=0.00) and with husbands less educated were more likely to have a high level of misconceptions (P=0.01).

• 대한지역사회영양학회지
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.163-175
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• 2014

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate dietary intake among female breast cancer survivors in a cross-sectional study. Methods: A total of 127 women who had breast cancer surgery at least 6 months before baseline were included. Dietary intake of female breast cancer survivors was assessed through self-reported 3 day-dietary records. To compare dietary intake between breast cancer survivors and general female population without cancer, we selected the 1:4 age matched women from the 2011 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). In the KNHANES, participants were asked about their dietary intake using the 24-hour dietary recalls. We also examined whether dietary intake varied by age group, cancer stage, or time since surgery among breast cancer survivors. We used the generalized linear model to compare their dietary intakes. Results: Intakes of total energy, beta-carotene, folate, vitamin C, plant iron and fruits were lower among breast cancer survivors with longer time since surgery compared to those with shorter time (p<0.05). Breast cancer patients with higher stage at diagnosis tended to consume less legumes (p=0.01) than those with lower stage. When we compared dietary intake between breast cancer survivors and the general female population without cancer, breast cancer survivors were more likely to consume most of macro- and micro-nutrients in larger quantity (p<0.05) and adhere to healthier diet characterized by higher intakes of legumes, seed and nuts, vegetables and fishes and shells than the general female population who never had been diagnosed with cancer (p<0.05). Conclusions: Our study results suggested that the intakes of nutrients and foods varied by time since surgery and cancer stage among breast cancer survivors and dietary intakes among breast cancer survivors differed from that in the general population. Further prospective studies are warranted to explore the association between dietary intakes of specific food items and survival among Korean breast cancer survivors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권18호
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• pp.7875-7878
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• 2014

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the awareness of breast cancer risk factors among female university students in 24 low, middle income and emerging economy countries. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 10,242 undergraduate university students (mean age 20.7, SD=2.9) from 25 universities in 24 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Using anonymous questionnaires the awareness of links between breast cancer and heredity, diet, overweight, exercise, alcohol use, smoking and stress was assessed. Results indicated that 35.4% of the women were not aware that any of these risk factors could influence breast cancer, 43.8% were aware of a genetic link, and only 12.5%, 10.9% and 10.6% correctly identified alcohol use, overweight and physical inactivity, respectively, as factors causing breast cancer. Moreover, 13.3% rated dietary fat and 11.5% fibre as influencing breast cancer; both low-fat and high-fibre diets may be weakly protective against breast cancer, and smoking (19.4%) and stress (13.5%), the most commonly chosen breast cancer lifestyle risk factors, have less clear impact on breast cancer. There were marked country differences, e.g., in regards of being aware of genetic causes of breast cancer risk in female students from Ivory Coast, India, Madagascar, Nigeria and Laos below 30% and female students from Pakistan, Singapore, Turkey, Grenada and Philippines 60 or more percent. This study provides insight in the breast cancer risk perception of young women, which can be utilized in breast cancer awareness and prevention programmes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.733-738
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• 2013

Background: Breast and cervical cancers are significant causes of mortality and morbidity for Asian women, and poor English-speaking ability is a barrier to cancer prevention practices. Materials and Methods: This project tested relationships among English-speaking ability and early detection practices regarding to breast and cervical cancer among female Chinese immigrants. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was used. Results: 175 female Chinese immigrants completed the survey in the breast cancer prevention section, and 35 of them also completed the cervical cancer prevention section. Some 63% of them had heard about the clinical breast exam (CBE), but only 54% had had a CBE. While 46% of the participants were aware of their need for a Pap smear, only 31% had heard about it and had undergone a pelvic exam. Conclusions: English-speaking ability was strongly associated with immigrant women's knowledge of female cancer early detection. Culturally and linguistic issues should be considered as the first step to access immigrant population in designing future education intervention.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.361-366
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• 2020

Background: This study aimed to identify the validity of breast cancer symptom questionnaire of worker's special health examination and its relationship with breast ultrasonography findings in young female night workers. Methods: The breast cancer symptom questionnaire data of worker's special health examination and breast ultrasonography results in young female shift workers who worked in one electronic manufacture company were collected from 2014 to 2018. Results: Of the 857 workers, 18 had a Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System category 4 or higher. Among other variables, shift work tenure alone was associated with the risk of having a Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System category higher than 4. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the symptom questionnaire were 16.7%, 87.7%, 2.8%, and 98.0%, respectively. Conclusion: The current breast cancer symptom questionnaire of the worker's special health examination is inappropriate due to its low sensitivity and positive predictive value. In the future, female night workers will need alternative measures for more accurate screening for breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.155-160
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• 2014

Purpose: This study aimed to analyse female academician health beliefs for breast cancer screening and levels of self-esteem. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2010 and March 2011, covering female academicians working in all faculties and vocational schools at Ondokuz Mayis University, except for the ones in the field of health (n=141). Data was collected using a questionnaire developed by researchers in the light of the related literature, the Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for Breast Cancer, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Descriptive statistics, the t-test, Mann-Whitney U and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data with the SPSS 13.0 statistical package. Results: 53.8% of the participants were single, 58.6% did not have children, 80.7% had regular menstrual cycles, 28.3% was taking birth control pills, 17.9% were undergoing hormone therapy, 11% suffered breast problems, 8.3% had relatives with breast cancer, 78,6% knew about breast self-examination (BSE), 68.3% was performing BSE, 16.2% were performing BSE monthly, 17.9% had had mammograms, and 30.3% had undergone breast examinations conductedby physicians. The women who had breast physical examinations done by physicians had higher susceptibility, self-efficacy and health motivation, and fewer barriers to mammography than those who did not have breast physical examinations. Conclusions: There was a relationship between the female academician self-esteem and their perceived seriousness of breast cancer, perceived barriers to BSE and health motivation. Our Turksih female academicians had medium levels of self-esteem.