Promotion of early diagnosis of breast cancer in Brazilian Women

Background: Breast Cancer (BC) is the type of cancer that most affects women, being the second most common type in the world. In Brazil, in 2016, an estimated 57,960 new cases in women, representing 28.1% of new breast cancer cases across the country. Mammography remains the method of choice for population screening for breast cancer in asymptomatic women and is the first imaging technique indicated to evaluate most clinical breast changes. Objective: To evaluate the promotion of early diagnosis of breast cancer by performing screening mammography in women aged 50 to 69 years in the city of Teresina-PI. Method: Descriptive, prospective study with 297 women aged 50 to 69 years. For inferential analyzes, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson correlation and Student's t test were used. Results: The average age of the participating women was 58.4 years and 68.4% called themselves brown. The average sample estimates of developing breast cancer by the Gail model at 5 years and up to 90 years of age were 1.3% and 6.7%, respectively. Still, using the same model, 8.8% of women had an estimated risk of developing breast cancer ≥1.67% in 5 years. In the study population, there was an increase of 15.9% in the performance of screening mammographic examinations after the intervention. Conclusion: Lectures and workshops to raise awareness about breast cancer in women had positive impacts on the screening program. The sample studied had low risk estimates for developing breast cancer, according to the factors considered in the Gail model. As well, the number of screening mammograms performed during the study period was increasing compared to the previous year.