Barriers to Mammography Screening: How to Overcome Them

Background: screening mammography is an established intervention that leads toearly breast cancer detection and reduced mortality. the lebanese ministry of healthhas initiated yearly awareness campaigns and provided free mammography in multiplecenters around the country.methods: the study took place in two major areas of lebanon - beirut and southlebanon. this cross-sectional survey aimed to assess knowledge about breast cancerscreening and screening behaviors in the lebanese population. the primary outcomeof the study was to assess the reasons that prevented women from performing screeningmammography based on our categories of questions: lack of knowledge about breastcancer, lack of access to screening facilities, failure of primary care physician toencourage screening behavior, and other reasons.results: the major barriers to seek screening that had statistically significantp-values, in order of prevalence, included: lack of knowledge about breast cancer,followed by social reasons and lack of access.conclusion: given the prevalence of breast cancer in our population, it is importantto understand the pitfalls that we experience in promoting awareness. our study is thefirst study to reach out to the community to assess perceived barriers against screeningand provide solutions for such barriers.