Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of women with breast cancer, by stage at diagnosis.
| Characteristics | Early BC (Stages I & II) N (%) a | Late BC (Stages III & IV) N (%) a | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-demographic | Total no. of women | 97 (32.3) | 203 (67.7) |
| Age at BC diagnosis (years) | Mean age (SD) | 42.6 (11.5) | 46.4 (11.7) |
| Marital status | Married | 71 (33.6) | 140 (66.4) |
| Educational level | None | 5 (12.2) | 36 (87.8) |
| Primary/Secondary | 33 (29.2) | 80 (70.8) | |
| Tertiary/Post graduate (PG) | 59 (41.3) | 84 (58.7) | |
| Not reported | 0 (0) | 3 (100) | |
| Religion | Christianity | 80 (30.7) | 181 (69.3) |
| Islam | 17 (47.2) | 19 (52.8) | |
| Not reported | 0 (0) | 3 (100) | |
| Do you have a personal income? | Yes | 23 (25.6) | 67 (74.4) |
| No | 74 (35.2) | 136 (64.8) | |
| Socioeconomic class | Low | 37 (27.2) | 99 (72.8) |
| (using household data) | Middle | 38 (36.5) | 66 (63.5) |
| High | 22 (36.7) | 38 (63.3) | |
| Lifestyle | No. of ever smokers (%) | 1 (50.0) | 1 (50.0) |
| No. drinkers (%) (1 measure/day) | 10 (21.7) | 36 (78.3) | |
| (2-5 measures/day) | 1 (6.7) | 14 (93.3) | |
| Breast Cancer Awareness | |||
| Ever heard of BC | No | 8 (16.3) | 41 (83.7) |
| Yes | 88 (36.1) | 156 (63.9) | |
| Don’t Know/Not reported | 1 (33.3) | 2 (66.7) | |
| Knowledge of BC causes b | Poor | 57 (28.5) | 143 (71.5) |
| Fair | 25 (40.9) | 36 (59.1) | |
| Good | 15 (38.5) | 24 (61.5) | |
| Knowledge of BC symptoms c | Poor | 48 (28.4) | 121 (71.6) |
| Fair | 30 (33.3) | 60 (66.7) | |
| Good | 19 (46.3) | 22 (53.7) | |
| Belief in cure for BC | No | 26 (22.2) | 91 (77.8) |
| Yes | 71 (39.9) | 107 (60.1) | |
| Don’t know | 0 (0) | 5 (100.0) | |
| Practice of BSE | No | 37 (25.0) | 111 (75.0) |
| Yes | 53 (41.1) | 76 (58.9) | |
| Never heard of / Unknown | 7 (30.4) | 16 (69.6) | |
| First BC symptom | Breast Lump | 86 (33.0) | 175 (67.0) |
| Other Symptom d | 11 (28.2) | 28 (71.8) | |
| Health Care Access | |||
| Region of residence | North-Central (Abuja) | 85 (37.6) | 141 (62.4) |
| South-Eastern (Enugu) | 12 (16.2) | 62 (83.8) | |
| Diagnostic hospital type e | Tertiary | 68 (28.1) | 174 (71.9) |
| Secondary | 29 (50.0) | 29 (50.0) | |
| Travel time taken to diagnostic hospital | < 1 hour | 66 (36.1) | 117 (63.9) |
| 1 - < 2 | 15 (33.3) | 30 (66.7) | |
| >=2 | 5 (22.7) | 17 (77.3) | |
| Not reported | 11 (22.0) | 39 (78.0) | |
BC: breast cancer; BSE: breast self-examination; HCP: health care provider including traditional and spiritual healers; SD: standard deviation;
Unless otherwise specified
A score was assigned to each one of 8 items on BC causes: 2 to the correct answer, 1 to not sure/certain and 0 to the wrong answer. The 8 items included (i) lifestyle, (ii) not breastfeeding, (iii) getting older, (iv) family history of BC, (v) if cancer is caused by a curse, (vi) an insect bite, (vii) injury to the breast or if (viii) it is contagious. The sum of the 8 item-specific scores was then grouped into 3 categories of poor (score 0-8), fair (9-11) and good knowledge (12-16).
Scores 0, 1 and 2 were assigned as above to 7 common BC symptoms: (i) breast lumps, (ii) breast pain, (iii) change in the size or shape of the breast, (iv) dimpling of the skin or a wound to the breast, (v) fluid coming from the nipple in a woman not breastfeeding, (vi) swelling in the armpit and (vii) change in the shape of the nipple. The sum of the 7 item-specific scores was then grouped into poor (0-7), fair (8-11) and good knowledge of symptoms (12-14)
Other symptoms included swelling underarm, nipple discharge and change in shape or size of breast.
Recruitment numbers for tertiary hospitals were: National Hospital Abuja- 70, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Gwagwalada - 98, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu - 74; for secondary hospitals: Asokoro District Hospital - 44, Garki Hospital -11 and Wuse General Hospital - 3)