Purpose: to evaluate factors that might influence the results of nonphamacological treatment (verbal guidance) in women with clinical mastalgia. Methods: an uncontrolled study of the experimental type was conducted on a sample of 128 women with a clear history of clinical mastalgia treated with verbal guidance. A visual analogue scale for pain was used before and after treatment to evaluate pain intensity and mastalgia was classified into grade I (mild), grade II (moderate) and grade III (severe) according to pain intensity. The Cardiff Breast Score (CBS), modified, was also used to evaluate the clinical response to treatment. Data were analyzed statistically using the chi² test (Epi-Info 6.04). Results: we noted that factors such as parity, menarche, age at first term delivery and breast-feeding had no significant effect (p=0.19, p=0.31, p=0.80 and p=0.54, respectively) on the results of nonpharmacological treatment (verbal guidance). On the other hand, when age was taken into consideration, 26 patients (78.8%) aged 40 years or older were found to benefi more from verbal guidance, with a significant difference (p=0.01) when compared to younger women. Conclusion: reproductive factors such as parity, menarche, age at first term delivery and breast-feeding did not affect the results of nonpharmacological treatment (verbal guidance), whereas the age factor had a specific and significant effect on the results.
Breast; Mastalgia; Verbal guidance
