Knowledge of primary and secondary prevention of breast cancer among Polish women

Introduction:
The most common malignant cancer in women, and the second cause of female deaths by oncological reasons in Poland, is breast cancer. The aim of this study was to assess whether breast cancer prevention programs in Poland have influenced Polish women’s knowledge of this subject.

Material and methods:
The study was conducted through a questionnaire assessing participants’ demographic and social data, verifying their knowledge of risk factors and breast cancer prevention, and determining the sources of participants’ knowledge. A total of 201 Polish women aged 20-70 years took part in the study. The sole exclusion criterion was a previous history of breast cancer.

Results:
Most women identified genetic mutations as a predisposing risk for breast cancer (55.2%), followed by smoking (11.4%). 79.6% of women were able to list at least one method of breast examination, with mammography being the most mentioned (62.2%). 81.1% of respondents correctly identified mammograms as the screening test of choice. Most participants (67.7%) knew that self-examination should be performed once every month. While the majority of women acknowledged the importance of regular medical examination by a specialist (85.6%), only 48.8% knew how frequently it should be performed. The study revealed a statistically significant relationship between the level of knowledge and the level of education, previous history of benign breast lesions, and family history of breast cancer.

Conclusions:
Polish women’s knowledge of breast cancer risk factors and prevention remains lacking. Prevention programs offering more infor-mation regarding breast cancer risk factors and screening programs are still needed.