Unawareness of breast cancer family history among African women

Abstract

Introduction: comprehensive cancer risk assessment services are lacking in most sub-Saharan African countries and the use of accurate family history (FH) information could serve as a cheap strategy for risk evaluation. The aim of this study is to determine the proportion of women unaware of family history of cancer among female relatives and associated socio-demographic characteristics.

Methods: using case-control data on breast cancer among 4294 women in Nigeria, Uganda and Cameroon, we investigated the proportion of women unaware of family history of cancer among their female relatives. The association between participants ‘response to their awareness of female relatives’ cancer history and socio-demographic characteristics was analysed according to case-control status, family side and distance of relation.

Results: the proportion of women unaware if any relative had cancer was 33%, and was significantly higher among controls (43.2%) compared to 23.9% among cases (p<0.001) (Adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.51, 95% CI = 2.14 - 2.95). Age, education and marital status remained significantly associated with being unaware of FH among controls on multiple regression.

Conclusion: about a third of women interviewed did not know about cancer history in at least one of their female relatives. Efforts aimed at improving cancer awareness in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is needed. Our findings could be useful for future studies of cancer risk assessment in SSA.