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Objective: To establish the proportion of women of 40 years-old and more, which perform properly breast self-examination in the Family Medical Unit 18 of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social from Teapa, Tabasco, Mexico, in 2011. Methods: Cross-sectional study in a universe of 1457 women. A random sample of 127 women was obtained and aleatorily selected. Socio-demographic and hereditary variables were included and breast self-examination technique was evaluated. The information was taken from clinical files and check lists. Descriptive statistic was obtained. Results: The mean age was 52.7 ± 9.3, with a confidence interval of 40-80 years-old. Women with a primary-school education were the largest group, representing 35.4 %. Family antecedent of breast malign tumor was found in 11 %. The mother was the most frequent parent with this background (42.9 %). Adequate breast self-examination technique was observed in 0.8 %. Conclusions: The proportion of women that performs breast self-examination properly is very low. Associated factors were not found. Educative interventions are required in order to correct this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]