AbstractBackgroundBreast cancer is the most common cancer among women in UAE. Screening for it can reduce morbidity and mortality and improve women survival. Low level of knowledge and poor practice of breast cancer screening could be due to many factors. The aim of our study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of breast cancer screening of women attending primary care centers in Abu Dhabi region.MethodA cross sectional study was done in 2017 using questionnaire about breast cancer awareness measure. Six primary health care centers were included which were located inside and outside Abu Dhabi island. Three hundred eighty three women participated in the study, between the age of 40-65.ResultsThe facilities to screen for breast cancer screening is available, but it is still underutilized by women. Even though we found in our study that women had high level of knowledge about breast cancer (45.7%), but their practice for mammogram was poor (52.2%). We also found that, the higher the education, employment and family history of breast cancer women had better knowledge, with statistically significant result respectively (P=0.000), (P=0.018), (P=0.013), and women older than 49 had better practice of mammogram (P=0.000). In our study, we concluded that women who attend clinic located inside island of Abu Dhabi had better knowledge and practice compared to women attending clinics located outside the island who had better attitude.ConclusionIn our study we found that despite having the modalities and services for breast cancer screening, it is still underutilized. Our population sample showed that women had good knowledge about breast cancer but poor practice for mammogram. Educational level, age and region all played role in their knowledge, attitude and practice. As primary care providers we are a big influencers on the society and the first contact to them, we can utilize this to spread the awareness. We can approach the women through social media, more campaigns and offering free mammogram to women who cannot afford paying for it. Spreading the awareness about screening will reduce the burden of breast cancer treatment on the health care system government too.