Breast Cancer Screening in Semi-Rural Malaysia: Utilisation and Barriers

Devi Mohan; Tin Tin Su; Michael Donnelly; Wilfred  Mok Kok Hoe; Desiree Schliemann; Min Min Tan; Daniel Reidpath; Nur Aishah Taib; Pascale Allotey

doi:10.3390/ijerph182312293

Breast Cancer Screening in Semi-Rural Malaysia: Utilisation and Barriers

Devi Mohan^*, Tin Tin Su, Michael Donnelly, Wilfred Mok Kok Hoe, Desiree Schliemann, Min Min Tan, Daniel Reidpath, Nur Aishah Taib, Pascale Allotey

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences

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Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is the commonest cancer in Malaysia. Delayed diagnosis is a significant cause of BC mortality in the country. Early diagnosis and screening are vital strategies in mortality reduction. This study assessed the level of utilisation and barriers for breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammogram in a semi-rural population in Malaysia and compared these across the different ethnic groups. This cross-sectional study was conducted among women aged 40 years and above, embedded within a health and demographic surveillance site (HDSS) in Segamat, Malaysia. Trained data collectors collected data on screening and barriers during home visits. Study participants (n = 250) were aged 59.4 ± 10.9 years and represented Malaysia’s three major ethnic groups. Practice of regular BSE, CBE uptake (ever) and mammogram (ever) was 23.2%, 36% and 22.4%, respectively. Regular BSE practice was highest in the Malay ethnic group and least among the Chinese. Regular CBE was very low in all ethnic groups (<5%). Mammogram uptake was highest among Chinese (34.4%), followed by Indians (30.4%) and Malays (16.6%). After adjusting for other socio-demographic variables, Malay ethnicity was positively associated with regular BSE (adjusted OR = 5.26, 95% CI 2.05, 13.50) and negatively associated with having had a mammogram (adjusted OR = 0.3, 95% CI 0.15, 0.57). Lower education was negatively associated (adjusted OR = 0.36, 95% CI 0.17, 0.74) with mammogram attendance (ever). Emotional and financial barriers were the most reported types of barriers, specifically, fear of diagnosis (74.8%), cost of diagnosis (69.6%) and fear of losing a breast (66.4%). Malay women more commonly reported most barriers compared to other ethnic groups. Screening uptake was low among semi-rural women in Malaysia. Implementing culturally appropriate interventions that consider ethnic differences is crucial to empowering women to engage in BC screening initiatives in these communities.

Original language	English
Article number	12293
Journal	International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume	18
Issue number	23
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312293 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312293
Publication status	Published - 23 Nov 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project was supported by Monash University Faculty of Medicine Strategic Grants Scheme 2017 (SGS 17-0628) and Newton Fund Impact Scheme (NFIS)?Newton-Ungku Omar Fund 2020-2022(537084059).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

Barriers
Breast cancer screening
Clinical breast examination
Mammogram

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Pollution
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.3390/ijerph182312293Licence: CC BY
10.3390/ijerph182312293

Breast Cancer Screening in Semi-Rural Malaysia: Utilisation and Barriers
Copyright 2021 the authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 954 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Mohan, D., Su, T. T., Donnelly, M., Mok Kok Hoe, W., Schliemann, D., Tan, M. M., Reidpath, D., Taib, N. A., & Allotey, P. (2021). Breast Cancer Screening in Semi-Rural Malaysia: Utilisation and Barriers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(23), Article 12293. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312293, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312293

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AB - Breast cancer (BC) is the commonest cancer in Malaysia. Delayed diagnosis is a significant cause of BC mortality in the country. Early diagnosis and screening are vital strategies in mortality reduction. This study assessed the level of utilisation and barriers for breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammogram in a semi-rural population in Malaysia and compared these across the different ethnic groups. This cross-sectional study was conducted among women aged 40 years and above, embedded within a health and demographic surveillance site (HDSS) in Segamat, Malaysia. Trained data collectors collected data on screening and barriers during home visits. Study participants (n = 250) were aged 59.4 ± 10.9 years and represented Malaysia’s three major ethnic groups. Practice of regular BSE, CBE uptake (ever) and mammogram (ever) was 23.2%, 36% and 22.4%, respectively. Regular BSE practice was highest in the Malay ethnic group and least among the Chinese. Regular CBE was very low in all ethnic groups (<5%). Mammogram uptake was highest among Chinese (34.4%), followed by Indians (30.4%) and Malays (16.6%). After adjusting for other socio-demographic variables, Malay ethnicity was positively associated with regular BSE (adjusted OR = 5.26, 95% CI 2.05, 13.50) and negatively associated with having had a mammogram (adjusted OR = 0.3, 95% CI 0.15, 0.57). Lower education was negatively associated (adjusted OR = 0.36, 95% CI 0.17, 0.74) with mammogram attendance (ever). Emotional and financial barriers were the most reported types of barriers, specifically, fear of diagnosis (74.8%), cost of diagnosis (69.6%) and fear of losing a breast (66.4%). Malay women more commonly reported most barriers compared to other ethnic groups. Screening uptake was low among semi-rural women in Malaysia. Implementing culturally appropriate interventions that consider ethnic differences is crucial to empowering women to engage in BC screening initiatives in these communities.

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Breast Cancer Screening in Semi-Rural Malaysia: Utilisation and Barriers

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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