Abstract
Background: Worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Breast cancer screening has been found effective in early diagnosis and decreasing mortality rates. Aim of the study: To assess Saudi Women's knowledge, attitudes and practices towards breast cancer screening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and investigate factors that influence these practices. Methods: This is a cross-sectional community-based survey; a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a convenience sample of females with a wide spectrum of socio-demographic profiles. A scoring scheme was used to score women's responses. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with screening practices viz. breast self-examination (BSE), mammography and attitudes. Results: The study included 407 females, mean (+/- S.D) age of 28 years (+/- 8.5); 45% were married and 40.2% had a university degree. Only 30% of females practiced BSE and 25% had ever performed mammography. Stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that inappropriate attitude is independently predictable by inadequate knowledge (p<0.0001). Factors independently associated with BSE practice in the stepwise logistic regression analysis were being married (p<0.05), appropriate attitude (p<0.05), adequate knowledge (p<0.05) and performing a mammography test (p<0.0001). Factors independently associated with performing mammography were age greater than 40 years (p< 0.05), higher knowledge score (p<0.0001) and practicing BSE (p<0.0001). Conclusion: These study findings indicate significant inadequate knowledge, inappropriate attitude towards breast cancer as well as suboptimal screening practices among Saudi women. Therefore, preventive educational campaigns employing innovative strategies to increase population awareness, particularly targeting future generations through schools and university curricula, should be urgently implemented to reverse the course of the upward growing incidence of breast cancer disease in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.