Evaluation of Iranian women s knowledge about breast cancer and its self-examination methods: An overview of existing evidence

Introduction & Aim: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in Iran and the world and is the second leading cause of death from women s cancer after lung cancer. Early diagnosis is critical to improving the outcome and survival rate. The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge of Iranian women about breast cancer and their self-examination methods.Methods: This systematic review took place by searching the databases Magiran, SID, Google scholar, Pubmed, Amedeo and elmnet with keywords Breast cancer, knowledge, self-examination and Iran during 2000 to 2018. In this study, descriptive and analytical articles have been used.Results: The results of various studies showed that among 30- 41% of the subjects participating in the study, they performed breast self-examination. Most people considered early diagnosis of breast cancer effective. A significant percentage of people have not been referred to the doctor for testing and examination during the last two years. The level of awareness of these people was moderate, and they did not have good information on the screening and the timing of this self-examination. The status of literacy and education was one of the factors associated with increasing the awareness of these women. Also, in some studies, conflicting results were found regarding age, marital status and familial history of cancer with knowledge and self-examination.Conclusions: The results showed that the knowledge of Iranian women is moderate and in some aspects is weak, which requires the need for general education in health centers and deprived areas. It is also important to identify other breast self-examination barriers in these individuals.

Keywords:

Breast cancer , knowledge , self-examination , Iran