Determination of Risk Factors of Breast Cancer among Women in a Cancer Specialized Hospital in Dhaka City

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and one of the most important causes of death among them. Breast cancer is a multi-factorial disease and various factors contribute to its occurrence. Objective: The objective of the study was to find out the association of risk factors of breast cancer among women in a selected cancer specialized hospital in Dhaka city. Methodology: This was a case-control study conducted on breast cancer patients who had been admitted and diagnosed at the department of Oncology of Delta Medical College and Hospital within the defined period from January 2022 to December 2022. Following informed written consent, 108 healthy women and 108 breast cancer patients were included into the study. They were interviewed and information was recorded in the questionnaire. Ethical issues were maintained and the results of histological diagnosis were obtained to complete the data sheet and analyzed by SPSS. Result: Total of 216 patients were interviewed with a minimum age of 20 and a maximum age of 82. The average age of the respondents was 45.88 years ± 2.79 years. The most common weight for the breast cancer patients was in the range of 40-50 kgs with frequency of 43(39.81%). The most common weight for the non breast cancer patients was in the range of 50-60 kgs with frequency of 43(39.81%). The difference was statistically significant (p<.05). 43.5% breast cancer patients used contraceptive pills and 59.26% had reported their children have been breastfed. 40.74% of the breast cancer patients had X-ray exposure and 55.56% of them did not do daily exercise. For the breast cancer patients, 73 of them have reported their husband had regular tobacco smoking habit (67.59%) compared to non smoking habit of only 35 respondents (32.41%). On the other hand, for non breast cancer patients, 75 of them have reported of no smoking habit of husband (69.44%) compared to only 33 (30.56%) of the husband’s smoking habit. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). 43.52% breast cancer patients had alcohol consumption habit. We found significant association of breast cancer with the number of children, contraceptive pill usage, X-ray exposure, husband’s tobacco smoking habit, hormonal contraceptive pill usage. Conclusion: Data of the present study confirmed a marked relationship between breast cancer and all the risk factors being identified in the study.