ABSTRACT
Background: Breast cancer as a disease not only instills feeling of dread and fear but also has a psychological impact, as it affects a part of the body central to women’s sense of feminity. There is a steady increase in rural breast cancer incidence since rural women are increasingly adopting urban lifestyles, reproductive habits and are also increasingly exposed to similar environmental factors as urban women due to economic development. Materials and Methods: A retrospective, hospital rec-ord based study was done among patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital from January 2011 to December 2012. Data regarding age, risk factors like marital status and religion along with histological type, tumour grade and stage at diagnosis were retrieved. Data were entered and analysed by frequency, percentage and chi-square test. Results: A total of 109 cases, of which 76 were from rural areas of Dakshina Kannada. Mean age at presentation was 51-60 years among rural and 41-60 years among urban. Among rural women all 76 were married and among urban women 30 were married. Prevalence of breast malignancy was more among Hindus and least among the Muslims. The commonest histological type was Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma (NOS) and commonest grade was grade 2. Most of them belonged to stage 2 disease. Conclusion: The study suggests that breast cancer pa-tients present late in the progression of disease beyond stage 1 and hence there is a need for improved screening techniques among rural women of Dakshina Kannada. Women should be encouraged to perform breast self-examination and get regular mammograms done as a routine screening proce-dure.