Investigating Effective Factors in Performing Screening Mammography among Women Referring to Mammography Center

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women. This cancer could be easily intervened and even treated if it is diagnosed in the early stages. A screening program has been provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) to diagnose this cancer in the early stages and treat it successfully. Women refuse to undergo mammography for various reasons such as lack of knowledge about the necessity of doing mammography, low educational level, low household income, and woman’s unemployment, having no medical insurance, having no family history of breast diseases, and a woman’s lack of breast problems. This study aims to investigate the effective factors in performing screening mammography among women. Methods: All the clients referring to the mammography center were included in the study to determine the desired sample size. In total, 150 individuals were selected and questions were asked of them. The questionnaire consisted of 17 items. In the first part of the questionnaire, demographic information including age, educational level, occupation, place of residence, insurance status, and monthly household income was asked. The second part included women’s fertility history in terms of number of children, using hormonal methods of contraception, and other information like history of breast cancer and family history of breast cancer. In the last part, women under study were divided into 2 groups, one of them had done screening mammography before coming to the hospital and another group did not. We asked the second group about their reasons for refusing to do mammography in the past and we asked from first group about the source of information they had about doing mammography. The data were entered into SPSS software and analyzed. Results: There was no significant correlation between doing screening mammography and educational level, age, place of residence, having health insurance, being employed and type of occupation, number of children, income level, using contraceptive methods, and family history of breast cancer. A significant correlation was observed between performing screening mammography and women’s history of benign tumors (p<0.05, X2=7.44). A significant correlation was found between performing screening mammography and women’s history of a malignant tumor (p<0.05 and X2=7.143)

Keywords

• screening mammography, women's awareness, breast cancer