Barriers Associated with Presentation Delay among Breast Cancer Patients at Hawassa University Comprehensive and Specialized Hospital, Southern Ethiopia.

Background: Breast cancer remains the most common cancer and most common cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. Objectives: The main purpose of this study is to assess barriers resulting in delayed patient presentation to breast cancer care among breast cancer patients under treatment at Hawassa university comprehensive specialized hospital. This study is the first conducted in the study area. Methods: A hospital- based descriptive cross-sectional study design was done from 1 Jun - 30 December 2017 to answer the study objectives. All delayed 106 women under breast cancer treatment during data collection period were participated in the study. Structured data collection tool which encompass possible barriers in developing countries were applied to collect data from each study subject. Before the data collection, written ethical clearance letter was obtained from IRB of Hawassa university. Data entry was done using EPI Info 3.5.4 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 software package for analysis. Results: This study revealed that delay was multi-factorial. Of 106 delayed women to breast cancer care, (98.1%) didn't have knowledge about sign and symptom of breast cancer; (71.7%) were thinking the breast cancer lump was not dangerous enough to consult expert health professionals and (64.2%) using alternative medicines like prayer, herbal remedy or traditional healers. There was no significant statistical association found with major causes of delay and socio-demographic characteristics of the women. Conclusion: A significant percentage of women with breast cancer in Hawassa and nearby are experiencing presentation delay due socio-cultural, economic and health and health related causes. Hence, an intense and focused awareness campaign about breast cancer is needed to educate the general population by Ethiopian cancer association, Federal ministry of health, regional health offices any other concerned body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]