Author(s)

Stéphane Arold Bidossessi Senahoun¹, Nicolas Hamondji Amegan^1,2*, Mahougnon Hugues Serge Dohou³, Hermann Comlanvi Agbedjinou¹, Lucresse Corine Fassinou^1,4, Tècle Edwige Korogone¹, Armand Ibikounle¹, Dieudonné Fambo¹, Joël Gamêlé Mikponhoué⁵, Christiane Tshabu Aguemon⁶

¹Ecole Doctorale des Sciences de la Santé, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin.
²Ecole de Santé Publique de l’Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
³Unité de Formation et de Recherche en Médecine Cardiovasculaire, Faculté de Médecine de l’Université de Parakou, Parakou, Bénin.
⁴Ecole de Santé Publique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgique.
⁵Ecole Nationale des Techniciens Supérieurs en Santé Publique et en Surveillance Epidémiologique, Université de Parakou, Parakou, Bénin.
⁶Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin.

Background: Breast cancer is the dominant cancer in women in both developed and developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices and factors associated with early breast cancer screening among women in the Municipality of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical study with prospective data collection from October 1 to 8, 2018, involving 1740 women in the Municipality of Abomey-Calavi, aged 18 years or older and selected by WHO four-stage random cluster sampling. Consenting women who were mentally competent, 18 years of age or older at the time of the survey, and residing continuously in the Municipality of Abomey-Calavi for the last six months prior to the survey were included. On the other hand, women who belonged to a breast cancer prevention service, women in whom secondary screening was noted, or non-consenting women were not included. The initial minimum size was estimated by the Schwartz formula with a cluster effect of k = 2. Information was collected by questionnaire survey, entered with Epidata 3.1. Fr and analyzed with R Studio 3.5.1. software. Results: The mean age of the women surveyed was 32.0 ± 11.5 years with a range of 18 and 71 years. Regarding knowledge, the clinical manifestation known by the majority of women was the presence of a nodule (68.50%). In the series, 1308 (75.17%) declared having heard about breast cancer once before, either on the radio, television or from friends and 726 (55.50%) had heard about breast cancer screening. Five hundred and twelve (70.52%) of the 726 who had heard of breast cancer said they knew that breast cancer could be screened earlier. Breast self-examination was the most cited screening method (67.58%). The disease is of natural origin according to 37.84% of them. Regarding attitudes and practices, the prevalence of early breast cancer screening was 12.93%, of which 11.67% declared that they had checked themselves to know whether they were carriers of the disease or not. The main means of the early screening used was breast self-examination (85.78%). Factors associated with early breast cancer screening found in multivariate analysis were age (≤50 years), education level (increasingly higher), marital status (married/coupled), place of residence (downtown), and socioeconomic level (average/high). Conclusion: The frequency of early breast cancer screening among women is still low in the municipality of Abomey-Calavi, although they have a good knowledge of the disease. This raises the need to strengthen awareness of early breast cancer screening.

Breast Cancer, Early Screening, Knowledge, Practices, Attitudes, Associated Factors

Senahoun, S. , Amegan, N. , Dohou, M. , Agbedjinou, H. , Fassinou, L. , Korogone, T. , Ibikounle, A. , Fambo, D. , Mikponhoué, J. and Aguemon, C. (2024) Women Breast Cancer: Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and Factors Associated with Early Screening in the Municipality of Abomey-Calavi in Benin in 2018. Open Journal of Epidemiology, 14, 131-156. doi: 10.4236/ojepi.2024.141010.