Assessment of Public Breast Cancer Awareness among Females in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Abstract

Abstract Background Breast cancer has now replaced lung cancer as the most common form of cancer, and its burden has been rising over the past decades, including in Malaysia. The future burden of breast cancer is predicted to increase to over 3 million new cases and 1 million deaths by 2040. The implications of the migratory flows and population spike in Klang Valley piqued our interest in finding out more about female breast cancer awareness, particularly their breast cancer knowledge and knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of breast self-examination (BSE). Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted between April to June 2021 on women who aged ≥ 20 years old and live in Klang Valley. A validated questionnaire of 61 questions about breast cancer awareness was distributed online (social media platform) and physical approaches (community pharmacy). The participant's overall KAP was categorized using Bloom's cut-off point. A KAP domain was considered sufficient if the score was ≥ 60% and insufficient if the score was < 60%. The Mann-Whiteny U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used to determine the differences in median. The relationships between KAP domains were measured using Spearman’s correlation test. Results A total of 491 responses were collected. We found that most participants had adequate breast cancer knowledge (67.8%) and BSE knowledge (80.5%) and positive attitude of BSE (97.1%). However, their BSE practice was extremely poor (72.9%), and forgetfulness was the main barrier. Young women had poorer KAP scores than older women. Significant correlations were found between breast cancer knowledge–BSE knowledge (r = 0.682, p < 0.005), breast cancer knowledge–BSE practice (r = 0.384, p < 0.005), BSE knowledge–BSE practice (r = 0.372, p < 0.005) and BSE attitude–BSE barrier (r = -0.380, p < 0.005). Conclusion BSE remains a viable and practical alternative screening method for Malaysian women. Overall, the participants have adequate knowledge and positive attitude, but implement transformational changes is needed address issues such as low understanding among young women and poor BSE practice to down-staging breast cancer in Malaysia.