Assessment of breast cancer screening services uptake amid women of childbearing age in three senate zones of Abia State, Nigeria

Introduction: Globally, breast cancer is a threat to human life in which Nigeria is not excluded. One of the best techniques in tackling breast cancer disease is to get women screened for the disease earlier enough. Aim: Assessment of breast cancer screening services uptake amid women of child-bearing age in three senate zones of Abia State, Nigeria. Method: A total of 1176 women were sampled using a multi-stage technique, a validated questionnaire was administered to obtain information from the respondents that consented to the study. Breast cancer uptake was considered as having been screened with at least one of the three known methods such as breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE), and mammography. Data analysis was performed using descriptive technique and Chi-square test for association in the data. Results: The overall level of breast cancer screening services uptake was 25.1% and uptake was 23.7% for BSE, 21.3% for CBE, and 3.7% for mammography. Up to 85.1% of those have been screened only once a year. The women (52.2%) are aware of any breast cancer screening services. Significant socio-demographic associating factors of uptake for breast cancer screening services include age (χ2=50.44, p=0.0001), marital status (χ2=47.81, p=0.001), education (χ2=393, p=0.0001) occupation (χ2=319.4, p=0.0001), income (χ2= 268.7, p=0.0001) and age at first pregnancy (χ2=74.8, p=0.0001). Uptake was highest among the 45 -49 years (32.9%), married (31.4%), tertiary education level participants (68.7%), Public / civil servants (66.5%). Family history was also found as another significant associating factor and up to 80.5% among the family history group undertook breast cancer screening services uptake compared to 9.2% among the non-family history group. Conclusion: Uptake in breast cancer screening is quite low among the study group possibly due to low level of knowledge, poor attitude, family history, and other associating factors.