ABSTRACT
Aims: The study was aimed at investigating knowledge, attitude and practice towards breast cancer and breast self-examination among female undergraduate students in Karachi, Pakistan.Study Design:Cross Sectional study.Place and Duration of Study:This study was conducted for a period of four months in different universities of Karachi, Pakistan. Methodology:The study was done using a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 381 undergraduate students of medical and non-medical universities were included. Results:The mean age of participants was 20.45 ±3.67 years.97% of the candidates had heard about breast cancer out ofwhich only 65.4% were aware about its high prevalence rate in Karachi, Pakistan. A good proportion of candidates i.e. 78% of participants had good knowledge of breast self examination out of which only 43.8% knew how to perform it but just 24.9 % actuallyperformed it.20.5% of female population had made arrangements for breast screening once in their lifetime however many of the candidates (39.1%) never experienced any symptoms of breast pathology thus never felt the need to screen themselves.Various signs and symptoms were considered as indications of breast cancer though lump as a sign was answered the most by 76.1% students. Out of the several risk factors of breast cancer 70.9% of candidates responded as family history the most common risk factor and early menstruation as a risk factor was 22.8% (the least). 44.4% of the aware candidates stated that they acquired this knowledge from social media. 21.5% had a positive family history. Mammography as a diagnostic modality was considered the most helpful by 61.4% population.Conclusion:Thestudy points out to the sufficient knowledge and attitude of breast cancer among female undergraduates in Karachi, Pakistan. However, they lacked the practice towards breast self examination. We expect that our results may provide useful data that could be used by the department of health in Karachi, Pakistan to formulate their health programs to increase the knowledge, attitude and practice towards breast cancer and breast self-examination
ABSTRACT
Aim: To provide the normal range of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in a subset of Karachi population by Spectralis OCT and to evaluate the effects of age and gender on it. Methodology: 300 eyes from 150 healthy subjects aged 40 years and above with no ocular pathologies were examined using standard protocols by a single examiner. Subjects with high myopia, history of diabetic or hypertensive retinopathy, raised intraocular pressure (> 21 mmHg) and previous intraocular or laser surgery were excluded from the study. The mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was calculated and was correlated with age and gender difference. Results: The mean global retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was found to be 99.02±9.08 μm in our set of population. Out of four quadrants the maximum RNFL thickness was found in inferior quadrant (126.45±16.23 μm) followed by the thickness of 121.50±15.03 μm in superior quadrant, 78.99±13.99 μm in nasal quadrant and 68.90±13.10 μm in temporal quadrant. We found strong negative correlation of RNFL thickness with age (P= 0.001) and not significant relation with gender (P= 0.8). Conclusions: Keeping in mind the variations in RNFL thickness with ethnic differences, this study provides the normal values of RNFL thickness according to our set of population. It is concluded that RNFL thickness decreases significantly with increasing age but gender had no significant effect on it.