Awareness about breast cancer in first-year junior residents at a tertiary care institute in India: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Primary physicians have a very important role in identifying early breast cancer, as well as promotion of awareness about breast cancer to general public. However, there is insufficient data about the knowledge of doctors, who have just finished their basic medical training, on breast cancer.

METHODS

All the postgraduate residents who had joined within the last 3 months, irrespective of the department, were invited to take part in the study. After explaining the aims of the study telephonically, consent was taken through online signatures and the participants were asked to fill online proformas. Descriptive statistics were used, and chi-square test was used to compare groups. value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant.

RESULTS

A total of 106 participants took part in the study. Only 63 (59.4%) participants had satisfactory knowledge about the warning signs of breast cancer. Apart from question of ideal frequency of breast examination, which was answered by 59 (55.7%) participants, the rest of the questions were answered correctly by less than 50% of participants. On the questions on risk factors, 102 (96.5%) of the participants were assessed to have adequate knowledge. Overall only 51 (48.1%) participants were assessed to have satisfactory knowledge about warning signs, screening and risk factors related to breast cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

The awareness about warning signs, risk factors and screening practices of breast cancer in newly joined residents was less than satisfactory. To improve this level of awareness, significant steps are needed at the level of undergraduate teaching.