Breast Cancer at Community Level in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is an issue of gaining concern in Bangladesh that causes high mortality and morbidity. Lack of screening and surveillance programme contributes to this. Almost no baseline data were found in this issue, though Government of Bangladesh launched a breast cancer surveillance programme based on clinical breast examination (CBE). This research was an effort to produce some baseline data to strengthen the programme of Government of Bangladesh. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted in Chittagong district of Bangladesh from 1^st January 2017 to 31^st April 2018. The survey included five administrative segments (Upazilas) of Chittagong district. All participants were evaluated by CBE, and fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was done in suspicious cases. Data were collected in a pretested format and analyzed. Results: Total 806 women were surveyed, and three subjects were finally diagnosed as carcinoma breast. A crude prevalence rate of carcinoma breast was 372.21 per 100,000 women. The peak breast cancer incidence in Bangladesh was 15–20 years earlier than the peak incidence in western countries. Conclusion: This survey was an initiative towards a large-scale field survey. The peak of breast cancer incidence in this study suggested that more attention should be paid to the incidence of breast cancer among premenopausal women.

Keywords: Breast cancer, prevalence, clinical breast examination (CBE)

Cite this Article

S. Ahmed, R.R. Chakraborty, M.S. Islam. Breast Cancer at Community Level in Bangladesh. Research & Reviews: Journal of Surgery. 2019; 8(2): 4–7p.