Mastalgia in females attending the Iranian Center for Breast Cancer

A study was conducted to identify the relative frequency and factors associated with breast pain in Iranian  females. In all, 1442 Patient's case records were studied. The most common chief complaints included : breast pain 466(32%), breast mass 349(2.4%), referred for screening 283( 19%), breast pain and mass  119(4%), breast pain and discharge 46(3%). Use of oral contraceptive pills (OCP) (P=0.04) and the duration of lactation (P==0.03) in patients with breast, pain was significantly more in patients without pain. Conversely educational status in patients with breast pain was lower than others. The primary diagnosis of normal breast or benign disease was more frequent in patients with pain than patients without pain. The frequency of some factors such as smoking, history of breast and other cancers in both groups was similar. The study findings suggest that there is a strong association between mastalgia, lactation and oral contraceptive use. It seems that to understand these relationships, precisely, further investigations are needed.