Knowledge of Undergraduate Pharmacy Students at Suez Canal University about Breast Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women, worldwide and in Egypt. Breast cancer awareness interventions are effective. Increasing awareness can decrease both late diagnosis and mortality rates. Because pharmacists are trusted, and accessible by the public, they can participate in breast cancer awareness. This requires having knowledge about its signs and symptoms, risk factors and the best time for screening. Objective: To determine the knowledge about breast cancer signs and symptoms, risk factors, and best time for screening, among undergraduate pharmacy students at Suez Canal University. Population and Methods: this descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at Faculty of Pharmacy, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt, among male and female, clinical and general, undergraduate pharmacy students. An online questionnaire was answered by 429 students, between 10/7/2024 and 24/7/2024. Results: The overall total knowledge levels for all participants were good. Female students showed better levels than male students, although the difference was statistically insignificant (p- value =0.05). Being a general or a clinical pharmacy student did not show statistically significant difference (p- value =0.231). There was a statistically significant difference (p- value =0.014) among different academic years, with the highest levels being among the 5th year students. Conclusion: The overall total knowledge levels for all participants were good, especially the knowledge about the signs and symptoms, and the risk factors of breast cancer. Participants' knowledge levels about breast cancer best time for screening are distributed relatively closely across good, average, and poor categories, with no single group dominating the others.