Knowledge About Gastrointestinal Cancers in People Referred for Endoscopy and Colonoscopy During a Screening Program: a Cross-sectional Study in Guilan, North of Iran

Factores epidemiológicos y educativos asociados al nivel de conocimiento sobre prevención de cáncer gástrico en internos de medicina de Lima, Perú

Introducción. El cáncer gástrico es uno de los cánceres más letales; por lo tanto, un alto nivel de conocimiento sobre su prevención es esencial en la formación de los futuros médicos. Objetivo. Determinar los factores epidemiológicos y educativos asociados al nivel de conocimiento en prevención de cáncer gástrico en internos de medicina de una universidad en Lima, Perú. Materiales y métodos. Estudio transversal analítico realizado en 319 internos de medicina matriculados en 2020 y 2021 en la Facultad de Medicina Humana de la Universidad Ricardo Palma. La información se recolectó utilizando encuestas. Además, el nivel socioeconómico y el nivel de conocimiento se midieron mediante la clasificación de Graffar y el test de conocimiento sobre prevención en cáncer gástrico, previamente validado en un centro de salud en Lima (Alfa de Cronbach: 0.84), respectivamente. Se realizó un análisis bivariado y uno multivariado con un modelo de regresión de Poisson, calculándose razones de prevalencia, con un intervalo de confianza (IC) de 95% y un nivel de significancia de p<0.05. Resultados. El nivel de conocimientos fue alto en 53.92% de los internos. En el análisis multivariado, se observó una asociación significativa entre el nivel alto de conocimiento sobre prevención de cáncer gástrico y las siguientes variables: planear realizar una especialidad quirúrgica (RPa:1.43, IC95%:1.13-1.81; p=0.003) y tener nivel socioeconómico I-II (RPa:1.58, IC95%:1.26-1.99; p=0.000). Por otro lado, las variables sexo, edad, tener un familiar directo con cáncer, tener un familiar médico directo y asistencia a conferencias de cáncer no mostraron asociación significativa. Conclusión. Planear realizar una especialidad quirúrgica y tener nivel socioeconómico I-II fueron las únicas variables asociadas con tener un nivel alto e conocimientos sobre prevención del cáncer gástrico, por lo que se recomienda que la Facultad de Medicina Humana desarrolle estrategias dirigidas a mejorar el nivel de conocimiento de los internos de medicina.

Awareness, attitude and barriers of colorectal cancer screening among high-risk populations in China: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

To assess the awareness, attitude and barriers of colorectal cancer screening among high-risk populations in China.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was employed.

SETTING

This study was conducted in nine hospitals in Hunan province, China.

PARTICIPANTS

Individuals with a high-risk for colorectal cancer were interviewed using a pretested structured questionnaire.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Knowledge, attitude towards colorectal cancer screening, sociodemographic factors associated with screening knowledge and behaviour and barriers of colorectal cancer screening.

RESULTS

This study included 684 participants. The mean knowledge score was 11.86/24 (SD 4.84). But over 70% of them held a positive attitude towards screening. Only 13.3% had undergone colorectal cancer screening. Independent factors related to knowledge were education level of college or above, working as a white collar, higher income, having health insurance, having seen a doctor in the past year and with a high perceived risk (p<0.05). Factors independently associated with screening behaviour included personal history of colorectal disease, having seen a doctor in the past year, previous discussion of colorectal cancer screening, high perceived risk and better knowledge (p<0.05). Main reasons for not undergoing screening were no symptoms or discomfort (71.1%), never having thought of the disease or screening (67.4%) and no doctor advised me (29.8%).

CONCLUSION

In China, the majority of high-risk people had deficient knowledge and had never undergone colorectal cancer screening. But most of them held a positive attitude towards the benefits of colorectal cancer screening. This has promising implications to design targeted educational campaigns and establish screening programmes to improve colorectal cancer awareness and screening participation. Healthcare professionals should advise high-risk individuals to participate in screening and inform them about cancer risk.

The Barriers and Facilitators of Gastric Cancer Screening: a Systematic Review

AIM

Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death and the fifth most common cancer worldwide. Screening is one of the most important ways to increase survival. The aim of this systematic review was to determinate barriers and facilitators for accessing gastric cancer screening.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this systematic review, for identifying barriers and facilitators of gastric cancer screening, a comprehensive search was conducted in electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus in 2021. Combination keywords such as gastric cancer, screening, endoscopy, barriers, and facilitators were used for searching. Full text original studies in English language that are dealing with barriers and facilitators for accessing gastric cancer screening were included in this review.

RESULTS

A total 13 articles included in this review. Ten barriers and ten facilitators were evaluated. The most common reported barriers were lack of signs, fear of screening procedure, fear of screening outcome, cost of screening, and embarrassment. The most frequent facilitator was socio demographic factors such as age, education, and employment.

CONCLUSION

For promoting success in gastric cancer, screening programs, knowing barriers, and facilitators is  necessary. No signs and symptoms of disease have been shown as the major barriers toward gastric cancer screening in most studies.