Table 2 Breast cancer awareness (BCA) and relation to health care
==== Fiji (n = 1982) ==== | ==== Kashmir (n = 399) ==== | p-value b | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | Estimate a | n | Estimate a | ||
Understanding of breast cancer: | |||||
Ever heard about breast cancer | 1771/1979 | 90% | 147/397 | 37% | 3.3 × 10− 129 |
Perceive they know signs and symptoms of breast cancer | 1323/1980 | 67% | 69/395 | 18% | 7.1 × 10−74 |
Worried about getting breast cancer | 1483/1980 | 75% | 364/393 | 93% | 1.1 × 10−14 |
Believe breast cancer can be detected early | 1755/1973 | 89% | 147/397 | 37% | 2.7 × 10− 124 |
Believe early detection increases survival | 1717/1975 | 87% | 292/388 | 75% | 3.8 × 10−9 |
Having an acceptable breast cancer awareness c | 1115/1968 | 57% | 29/395 | 7.3% | 1.2 × 10−71 |
Action if suspicion of possible breast cancer | |||||
Have felt suspicious lump/mass/change in breast before | 217/1960 | 11% | 13/399 | 2.8% | 0.000002 |
Did see a doctor if yes to above question | 118/198 | 60% | 10/13 | 77% | 0.22 |
Would attend doctor in future if noticing change in breast | 1803/1968 | 92% | 386/396 | 98% | 0.000048 |
Breast self-examination (BSE) | |||||
Have heard about BSE | 1116/1978 | 56% | 177/396 | 45% | 0.000019 |
Have been taught the technique of BSE | 840/1978 | 43% | 58/397 | 15% | 1.5 × 10−25 |
Perform BSE on a regular basis Yes/No | 976/1967 | 50% | 144/397 | 36% | 0.000001 |
Time interval between BSE: | 4.0 × 10−11 | ||||
Never | 1003/1877 | 53% | 253/373 | 68% | (above) |
Once annually | 30/1877 | 1.6% | 1/373 | 0.3% | (above) |
A few times per year | 71/1877 | 3.8% | 2/373 | 0.5% | (above) |
Monthly (or close to monthly) | 215/1877 | 12% | 7/373 | 1.9% | (above) |
More often than once a month | 558/1877 | 30% | 110/373 | 30% | (above) |
Shyness and wish for a female health care provider | |||||
Feel shy or reluctant to discuss breast health issues | 403/1965 | 21% | 132/398 | 33% | 3.8 × 10−8 |
Usual doctor is female | 506/1555 | 33% | 105/396 | 27% | 7.7 × 10−11 |
Would prefer a female doctor to discuss breast health issues | 1586/1968 | 81% | 365/393 | 93% | 1.1 × 10−8 |
Feel there is a local lack of female doctors/nurses to discuss this | 905/1966 | 46% | 377/391 | 96% | 1.4 × 10−74 |
Last time visiting a doctor | 8.4 × 10−22 | ||||
Never visited a doctor | 330/1972 | 17% | 23/393 | 5.9% | (above) |
More than a year ago | 319/1972 | 16% | 22/393 | 5.6% | (above) |
Within a year | 493/1972 | 25% | 81/393 | 21% | (above) |
Within a month | 830/1972 | 42% | 267/393 | 68% | (above) |