Barriers for early detection of breast cancer in Libyan women in Tripoli

Abstract

 The present study was conducted to realize the most common barriers for breast cancer screening among Libyan women living inside Tripoli, the capital of Libya. A descriptive study was conducted at different places, during the period November, 2008 to July, 2009.  A total of 221 women, aged 34 years and above with absence of former or current history of breast cancer, were participated in the study and completed self-administered questionnaire that assessed screening knowledge and related beliefs. The parameters computed were socio-demographic characteristics that include; age, education level, monthly income, marital states, previous breast cancer screening, family history of breast cancer, age of first menstrual period and the use of contraceptive. These demographic characteristic were statistically cross-matched with mean barriers scores. The mean age was 45.13 years and majority of women were married. The barriers to breast cancer were significantly higher among women who described a low annual household income family, women who did not know how to do self-examination and among women who listed never doing previous breast screening. While, there were no differences regarding to age, marital state and time of menarche. The four strongest barriers described by women were; there are no insurance coverage, have to wait too long, no way to get there and fear of mastectomy. This study indicates that the effective approach to reduce mortality associated with breast cancer is the early screening since its etiology remains uncertain. Moreover, to increase the awareness of women to the importance of breast screening there is a great need for a well-organized health educational program and improvement of each family economic situation. The better understandings of barriers to breast screening lead to improve interventions directed at reduce morbidity and mortality among women.