Background and purpose: Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies among Iranian women and mammography screening is of great assistance in its early diagnosis. This study was conducted to determine attitudinal barriers to mammography screening in women attending some of the clinics affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 900 women aged >40 referring to selected clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The data was analyzed using SPSS ver.16 and P< 0.05 was considered statically significant. Results: Among the attitudinal barriers to mammography screening, ‘having no symptoms of breast cancer’ was reported as the greatest barrier (81.9%). Other barriers included ‘lack of knowledge about breast cancer’ (73.2%), ‘lack of concern about breast cancer because of no family history’ (71.8%), ‘unnecessity of mammography’ (62.3%), ‘not concerned about health status’ (27.4%), ‘believe in fate’ (24.8%) and ‘no friends had mammograms’ (17.6%). This study showed that attitudinal barriers are significantly correlated with age (P< 0.001), level of education (P= 0.023) and economic status (P= 0.006). Multiple regression analysis showed that age and economic status were highly correlated with attitudinal barriers. Conclusion: Regarding the attitudinal barriers of mammography screening, education and raising awareness about the importance of early detection of breast diseases is essential which could be done through screening programs especially mammography.

Keywords: Breast cancer, breast cancer screening, mammography, barriers to mammography screening

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