Breast cancer awareness, knowledge and screening practice among women resident in an urban local government area of Oyo State, Nigeria

Background: Breast cancer has emerged as the most common female malignancy globally and in Nigeria in the past few decades. Little is currently known at the household level about breast cancer screening practices of the Nigerian women. Study objectives: The study assessed awareness, knowledge and practice of women in Ogbomoso South Local Government Area (LGA) on breast cancer screening. Methodology: The study employed Community-based cross-sectional design and multi-stage sampling technique was used to recruit 332 consenting women. Interviewer-guided, self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 40.8 +/- 13 years; 44.9% of the women had ever screened for breast cancer. Factors that were significantly associated with practice of breast cancer screening included having tertiary education (p < 0.001), ever use of family planning methods (p = 0.018), ever heard of breast cancer (p < 0.001), ever heard of breast examination (p < 0.001), having relatives who had died of breast cancer (p = 0.018) and having good knowledge of the disease (p < 0.001). Women who were aware of screening were eight times more likely to have practised breast cancer screening compared to those who had no knowledge (aOR 7.6, 95%CI 4.1-14.2). Conclusion: Knowledge and practice of breast cancer screening were low among community based women. There is urgent need to intensify breast cancer awareness campaigns among this population in Nigeria.