Lay perceptions of breast cancer in Western Kenya

Table 2 Lay perceptions of severity and symptoms/signs of breast cancer in Western Kenya

	No. coded statements (%)
Perception	Kapsokwony 489 (36%)	Mosoriot 280 (21%)	Turbo 580 (43%)	Total Perceptions 1349 (100%)
Severity
Killer disease	105 (21.5)	45 (16.1)	116 (20.0)	266 (19.7)
Breasts are removed	10 (2.0)	3 (1.1)	12 (2.1)	25 (1.9)
Curable if detected early	10 (2.0)	6 (2.1)	2 (0.3)	18 (1.3)
A disease like any other	5 (1.0)	6 (2.1)	3 (0.5)	14 (1.0)
It does not exist	3 (0.6)	1 (0.4)	0	4 (0.3)
Spreads to rest of the body	2 (0.4)	1 (0.4)	0	3 (0.2)
Cancer eats away the breast	0	1 (0.4)	0	1 (0.1)
Don’t know	354 (72.4)	217 (77.5)	447 (77.1)	1018 (75.5)
Symptoms/signs
	1166 (40%)	552 (19%)	1192 (41%)	2910 (100%)
Changes in breast size	207 (17.8)	109 (19.7)	266 (22.3)	582 (20.0)
Pain, tingle or tenderness of the breast	195 (16.7)	88 (15.9)	243 (20.4)	526 (18.1)
Lump in breast	165 (14.2)	72 (13.0)	129 (10.9)	366 (12.6)
Discharge from the breast	163 (13.9)	58 (10.5)	131 (11.0)	352 (12.1)
Wound on the breast	92 (7.9)	39 (7.1)	90 (7.6)	221 (7.6)
Itching	80 (6.9)	17 (3.1)	68 (5.7)	165 (5.7)
Change in breast skin color	44 (3.8)	17 (3.1)	27 (2.3)	88 (3.0)
Rash on breast and skin peeling	30 (2.6)	8 (1.4)	20 (1.7)	58 (2.0)
Change in nipples	21 (1.8)	10 (1.8)	17 (1.4)	48 (1.6)
Swelling in any other parts of the body	11 (0.9)	8 (1.4)	7 (0.6)	26 (0.9)
General symptoms1	28 (2.4)	33 (6.0)	26 (2.2)	87 (3.0)
Don’t know	130 (11.1)	93 (16.8)	168 (14.1)	391 (13.4)

¹General symptoms include fatigue, chest pain, loss of weight, change in eye color, liver trouble, no appetite, sweating, cough, chills, and fever.