title: Awareness and prevalence of mammography screening and its predictors--a cross sectional study in a primary care clinic in Malaysia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Worldwide, over half a million women died of breast cancer in 2011 alone. Mammography screening is associated with a reduction of 20 to 35% in breast cancer mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the awareness and practice of mammography screening and predictors of its uptake in Malaysian women attending a primary care clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out among women aged 40 to 74 years attending a primary care clinic in Selangor, Malaysia. An assisted structured questionnaire included questions on socio-demography, source of information and level of knowledge. An adapted version of the revised Champion Health Belief Model Scale plus other associated factors for mammography screening up-take were also included as part of the questionnaire. Predictors for mammography screening uptake were only determined in those who were aware about mammography screening. Significant predictors were determined by logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  447 women were recruited for this study; 99.1% of them (n: 411) were aware about breast cancer. Only 50.1% (n: 206) had knowledge about mammography screening. Prevalence of clinical breast-examination (CBE) was 23.3% (n: 104) and mammography screening up-take was 13.2% (n: 59). The predictors for the latter were those who have had clinical breast-examination (aOR=17.58, 95%CI: 7.68-39.82) and those aged between 50 to 59 years (aOR=3.94, 95%CI: 1.61-9.66) as well as those aged 60 years and above (aOR=6.91, 95%CI: 2.28-20.94). Good knowledge and positive beliefs about mammography screening were not associated with mammography screening uptake.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Half of our Malaysian women were aware about mammography screening. However, the uptake of mammography was low. Previous CBE and older age were significant predictors of mammography screening uptake. Increasing CBE services may increase compliance with guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia E-mail : chiayc@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Azianey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yusof
authors.forename: Yook Chin
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chia
authors.forename: Yasmin Mohd
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Hasni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D016504:Breast Self-Examination; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires