Knowledge status about breast cancer screening and prevention among rural women of Guangdong province

Objective To examine statuses of screening,prevention and treatment knowledge of breast cancer among rural women in Guangdong province and to provide evidences for the control of breast cancer.Methods Using multi-stage random sampling,31 209 rural female permanent residents aged 26-67 years in 6 municipalities or counties in Guangdong province were recruited and surveyed with a breast examination free of charge and questionnaire interview on knowledge about breast cancer prevention and treatment between 2009 and 2011.Results Of the participants,62.04% and 45.36% reported acquiring breast cancer prevention knowledge via reading the booklet distributed in the survey and watching television programs.The overall correct rate for answering 9 questions on breast cancer prevention was 93.26%,while the correct answer rate of the method for breast self examination was 77.05%.Among the participants,88.20% received inspection and palpation examination of breast,with 7.77% and 7.75% of the examinees being found with abnormal signs or indicators of left and right breast;69.66% accepted ultrasonic breast examination and 0.93% and 0.87% of the examinees showed abnormalities of left and right breast;4.28% had breast X-ray examination and 3.37% and 3.89% of the examinees presented abnormal images of left and right breast.Of the 342 participants with a recommendation of taking a biopsy,20 received the examination and biopsy compliance rate was only 5.85%.Totally 10 cases of breast cancer were confirmed by biopsy and the detection rate of breast cancer was 3.20/10 000 among all the participants.Conclusion The awareness rate of breast cancer prevention knowledge is relatively high but the compliance rate of biopsy is low among rural women in Guangdong province,suggesting that health education on breast cancer should be promoted in the population.