Breast cancer risk factors - awareness and attitudes of women in perimenopausal and postmenopausal age (45+) in Poland

Background
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant cancer among women in Poland. As we do not have sufficient knowledge about origin of this disease, women’s awareness and attitudes concerning the few well-known BC risk factors play a key role in the prevention and early detection of BC.

Material and methods
The questionnaire was answered by 380 women, 45 years and older, in Poland between May and August 2017. This randomly selected research group included subjects with a prior history of BC, a current diagnosis of BC, and healthy women without any history of BC in the past. Women were asked about their knowledge and attitudes concerning BC risk factors. Collected data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel, taking into account place of residence and education level.

Results
Among probable BC risk factors, the most commonly indicated by the women were gene mutations (60%), long-term use of hormonal contraception (49%) and overweight and obesity (38%). The most rarely indicated factors were late full-term pregnancy (12%), childlessness (21%) and alcohol consumption (26%). About 72% of the respondents assessed their knowledge about BC as good or very good, but only 41% of this group indicated overweight and obesity - one of the strongest risk factors – as contributing to BC. Moreover, only 26% of women who assessed themselves as having a high level of knowledge perceived alcohol consumption as a risk factor.

Conclusions
Results suggest that education in this age group should be more efficient and more focused on raising awareness about well-known BC risk factors.