Journals of

Background and Aim: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in industrialized countries and the third in developing ones. The present study aimed at assessing prevalence of breast cancer among women over 30 in Birjand between 2009 and 2010.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 2000 over 30 years women from Birjand city were selected through multiple-stage sampling. A demographic questionnaire was completed by each subject after being justified about the importance of screening and method of examination. Clinical breast examination was performed by a female GP under standard conditions, one week after menstrual ceasing. When there was a palpable mass in the breast, the participant underwent a mammography test for an accurate diagnosis of the type and size of the lesion. Positive cases were referred to a surgeon for open biopsy. The obtained data was analyzed by means of SPSS software (V: 15) using ANOVA test at α = 0.05 as the significance level.

Results: Out of 2000 surveyed women, 80 were excluded because of the inappropriateness of their completed questionnaires. Totally, 1920 women were included with the mean age of 44.48±8.56 (range: 30-88) years. Out of 267 women (13.9%) referred for mammography due to positive clinical findings, only 134 (50.2%) cases underwent mammography test and 17 of them (12.7%) had a lesion as observed in their mammography images and, as a result, fibrocystic lesion was the most common diagnosis. Biopsy was performed for 32 patients (1.6% of the total participants) and malignancy was reported in 11 patients (0.5%). Mean age of the cancer patients was 41.18±12.65 years which was similar to other women's situation without malignancy (P=0.11).

Conclusion: According to our results and based on the low mean age of patients with breast cancer, it is required to study the causes leading to the early occurrence of breast cancer at young ages in this area.