AL AIN // Women interviewed by UAE University researchers did not always recognise breast cancer symptoms, demonstrating that misconceptions about the disease still exist.
"Most of the participants disclosed that nobody around them knew about their cancer diagnosis and they would rather keep quiet and not share this news with anybody because they do not know how people around them would react to the information," the study, Breast Cancer Presentation Delays Among Arab and National Women in the UAE, said.
Symptoms varied from lumps in the breast to changes in the skin and nipple bleeding.
However, five of the women interviewed misinterpreted the signs.
One said she noticed her breast getting hard with a lump, and thought it was from milk accumulation. She ignored it and continued breast-feeding. But when the lump did not disappear and her breast grew larger, she realised that something might be wrong.
Another thought the lump in her breast had been caused by a fall.
In another case, one of the women asked her neighbour what she should do when she discovered a lump in her breast.
On her neighbour’s advice, she applied olive oil to it “for a couple of years”.
Women also expressed concerns about stigma and prejudice towards their families because of breast cancer.
“Women, therefore, often preferred to stay at home and suffer in silence as they did not want their families to ‘pay the price’ of having a family member with breast cancer,” said the study.
Others described guilt or shame from family reactions.
“My husband and family said to me ... ‘Oh you must have done something in your life and it came back on you ... what did you do? This is to pay for your sins,’” one woman told researchers.
Another described a lack of support from her husband.
“You see the husbands supporting their wives in TV only, in romantic movies but not in real life ... this is the truth,” she said.
arizvi2@thenational.ae
