ABSTRACT
Background: Among female patients’ breast cancer are a growing threat for over a century. In women, breast cancer is the most common malignancy universally such as 154 of 185 nations. Breast self-examination (BSE) is a simple, very low-cost, non-invasive early detection method used to detect early breast cancer, which involves the woman herself looking at and feeling for any change in their breast as early as possible, which yields a better survival rate. BSE should be done for all women older than 20 years. This study intended to determine knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of breast cancer among medical and non-medical undergraduate students. Material & Methods: A descriptive cross?sectional study was conducted from October to November 2019 to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of BSE. The target population consisted of undergraduate female medical and non?medical students. A total of 154 (N=154) undergraduate female students participated in this study. Verbal consent was taken before recruiting the study population. Completed data forms were reviewed, edited, and processed for computer data entry. The data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 25.0. Results: Among the study population (N=154) with an early familiar diagnosis of breast cancer ”breast self-examination, the mean age of them was 20.434±4.38. Of seventy-eight respondents (n=78), breast cancer screening test was heard by around half of the medical students (42, 53.8%) & of seventy-six non-medical respondents (n=76), around three-fifth of them (46, 60.5%) did not hear about breast cancer screening test. There was no significant relationship between them (p=0.394). Forty medical students (40, 51.3% and twenty-five non-medical students (25, 32.9%) had no idea, twenty-four medical students (24, 30.8%) & forty-three (43, 56.6%) non-medical students had monthly BSE done. Conclusion: Initial diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer have a definite survival benefit. So early detection is an issue of necessity to be uplifted. The results of the present study suggested that knowledge regarding breast cancer, its risk factors, sign symptoms, prevention measures, and performance of BSE is insufficient.
ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Due to shortcomings in death registration and medical certification, the excess death approach is recommended for COVID-19 mortality burden estimation. In this study the data from the civil registration system (CRS) from one district in India was explored for its suitability in the estimation of excess deaths, both directly and indirectly attributable to COVID-19. Methods: All deaths registered on the CRS portal at the selected registrar’s office of Faridabad district in Haryana between January 2016 and September 2021 were included. The deaths registered in 2020 and 2021 were compared to previous years (2016-2019), and excess mortality in both years was estimated by gender and age groups as the difference between the registered deaths and historical average month wise during 2016-2019 using three approaches – mean and 95 per cent confidence interval, FORECAST.ETS function in Microsoft Excel and linear regression. To assess the completeness of registration in the district, 150 deaths were sampled from crematoria and graveyards during 2020 and checked for registration in the CRS portal. Agreement in the cause of death (CoD) in CRS with the International Classification of Diseases-10 codes assigned for a subset of 585 deaths after verbal autopsy was calculated. Results: A total of 7017 deaths were registered in 2020, whereas 6792 deaths were registered till 30 September 2021 which represent a 9 and 44 per cent increase, respectively, from the historical average for that period. The highest increase was seen in the age group >60 yr (19% in 2020 and 56% in 2021). All deaths identified in crematoria and graveyards in 2020 had been registered. Observed peaks of all-cause excess deaths corresponded temporally and in magnitude to infection surges in the district. All three approaches gave overlapping estimates of the ratio of excess mortality to reported COVID-19 deaths of 1.8-4 in 2020 and 10.9-13.9 in 2021. There was poor agreement (?<0.4) between CoD in CRS and that assigned after physician review for most causes, except tuberculosis and injuries. Interpretation & conclusions: CRS data, despite the limitations, appeared to be appropriate for all-cause excess mortality estimation by age and sex but not by cause. There was an increase in death registration in 2020 and 2021 in the district.