Mastalgia in female university students: a multicenter observational study

Introduction: Mastalgia is pain localized in the breast region, being the most frequent gynecological complaint of women. It is divided into cyclic and acyclic mastalgia. Breast pain that begins a few days before menstruation and disappears within the first few days of menstruation is the definition of cyclic mastalgia - a physiological process predominant in menacme, with a tendency to decrease in premenopause. The management of cyclic mastalgia includes clinical and radiologic diagnostic investigation and biopsy for cases suspecting cancer. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of mastalgia in female university students in the northwestern region of São Paulo. Methods: This is a prospective, observational study, carried out with a sample of women from the interior of São Paulo, submitted to a specific virtual questionnaire for the evaluation and characterization of breast pain, available from September 2022 to April 2023. For the application and validation of the research objective, only participants who met the following criteria were included: students, aged 17 years or older and with voluntary acceptance of response. Pregnant candidates and/or those with a previous/current history of breast cancer were excluded. Results: 500 women were interviewed. Of these, 429 were aged 17-25 years. Of the 500 women interviewed, 23 had been pregnant and 18 had breastfed. 30 women had some form of silicone breast prosthesis. 264 women reported using contraception. Regarding breast pain, 148 interviewees answered that they did not have mastalgia, while 193 classified the pain as weak, 137 people considered it medium, 20 considered it strong and 2 people considered the pain unbearable. When asked about treatment, 9 people with breast pain reported no improvement with treatment. 182 interviewees reported having undergone breast ultrasound to investigate mastalgia. They were also asked about the consumption of coffee, tea and soda, about the practice of sports regularly and the need to miss classes due to pain. Conclusion: Finally, this is a study that related the risk factors associated with the prevalence of mastalgia. It was observed that most of the students presented a pain of weak intensity, and the clinical treatment was effective in most cases, being only 2.55% of the cases refractory to treatment.