Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.
Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria.
J Prev Med Hyg. 2021 Jul 30;62(2):E520-E528. doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2021.62.2.2056. eCollection 2021 Jun.
Although breast cancer has a lower incidence in developing countries, mortality rates are higher, mainly due to delay in diagnosis and the poor diagnostic and therapeutic capacities. Although screening tests have been available for quite a long time, delayed and advanced presentation is still common, especially in developing countries. The decade-long Syrian crisis has severely crippled the healthcare system and depleted the already-limited capacities of the healthcare services, which under prioritized the care provided to unurgent cases like breast cancer. This study aimed to investigate the practices of breast cancer screening among breast cancer patients.
A cross-sectional study conducted in Al-Beiruni Hospital at Damascus University in 2019, through personal interviews using a structured questionnaire.
The sample consisted of 519 patients with breast cancer. One-hundred twenty (23.2%) of them reported undergoing one or more of the different screening methods at least once every six months prior to diagnosis. Several factors had a statistically significant association with the probability of undergoing or performing screening methods including living in large cities, having fewer children, having a full-time or part-time job, and the level of education. Patients who reported having a relative diagnosed previously with breast cancer or any other malignancies were also more likely to screen themselves. Inaccessibility to healthcare services, which was exaggerated by the armed conflicts, had a significant association with less practicing of the screening methods too (OR: 0.4 [0.3-0.7]).
The Syrian war and its direct and indirect consequences negatively affected screening practices of breast cancer.
尽管发展中国家的乳腺癌发病率较低，但死亡率却较高，主要原因是诊断延迟以及诊断和治疗能力较差。尽管筛查测试已经存在了很长时间，但仍普遍存在延迟和晚期表现，尤其是在发展中国家。长达十年的叙利亚危机严重削弱了医疗保健系统，并耗尽了医疗服务已经有限的能力，这使得对乳腺癌等非紧急病例的护理被置于次要地位。本研究旨在调查乳腺癌患者的乳腺癌筛查实践。
这是 2019 年在大马士革大学贝鲁尼医院进行的一项横断面研究，通过个人访谈使用结构化问卷进行。
该样本包括 519 名乳腺癌患者。其中 120 名（23.2%）患者报告在诊断前至少每六个月接受过一次或多次不同的筛查方法。包括居住在大城市、子女较少、有全职或兼职工作以及教育程度在内的几种因素与进行或实施筛查方法的概率具有统计学显著相关性。报告有亲属以前被诊断出患有乳腺癌或其他恶性肿瘤的患者也更有可能进行自我筛查。由于武装冲突而导致的医疗服务不可及性也与较少实施筛查方法有显著关联（OR：0.4 [0.3-0.7]）。
叙利亚战争及其直接和间接后果对乳腺癌的筛查实践产生了负面影响。
