BackgroundThe prevalence of skin cancers is constantly increasing in Morocco, and they have gradually become more aggressive due to a significant delay in the diagnosis. Our aim was to assess the levels of awareness and the influencing factors related to skin cancer knowledge in Morocco.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was carried out in Morocco through the medium of a validated questionnaire, which contained several items – demographics, skin cancer knowledge and attitudes towards skin cancer patients– during a period of 1 year (2014).ResultsOut of the 700 participants enrolled in the study, 17.9% had never heard of skin cancer, 32.5% had a low score of skin cancer knowledge, 66.7% had a moderate score, and only 0.85% had a high score of skin cancer knowledge. Further, 15.1% of the participants were under the assumption that this cancer is contagious. The sun was the most incriminated risk factor in skin cancer occurrence by 74.3% of the participants, and 57.9% of them believed that prevention is important through using various means of photoprotection. After univariate and multivariate analysis, the influencing factors related to the skin cancer knowledge in Morocco were: the socioeconomic status (P = 0.003, OR = 7. 3) and the educational level (p < 0.001, OR = 20. 9).ConclusionsDue to the lack of knowledge or the underestimation of skin cancer in our study population, efforts are needed to promote skin cancer surveillance behaviors in Morocco.

Objectives: The current study aimed to develop a modified Mediterranean diet (MMD) score adjusted to the southern Mediterranean countries’ cultural specificities and to evaluate associations between adherence to this modified score and overweight/obesity risk in Moroccan adults. Design: Population-based cross-sectional study. Setting: Rural and urban areas of the five greatest provinces of Morocco. Participants: In total, 1516 participants were recruited between September 2009 and February 2017. Dietary assessment was obtained using a validated Moroccan FFQ. We constructed a MMD score focusing on twelve components. The MMD score ranged from 0 (no adherence to the traditional southern Mediterranean diet (MD)) to 12 (maximal adherence) and was categorised as low (scores 0–4), moderate (scores 5–7) and high (scores 8–12). Results: Among the whole population, 754 (50·5 %) were women and 738 (49·5 %) were men, and the mean age was about 55·60 ± 13·70. In total, 58 % of participants were moderately active. Regarding educational level, 50·7 % were illiterate. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 43·3 and 8·6 %, respectively. In multivariate analyses, close adherence to MMD (scores 8–12) was associated with reduced overweight/obesity risk (OR 0·61, 95 % CI 0·44, 0·84). Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was very high among Moroccan adults. Adherence to the traditional southern MD may help prevent overweight and obesity.

Background The Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale (Mini-MAC) instrument is commonly used worldwide by professionals of oncology, but the scale has not, up to date, been validated in Arabic and Moroccan context, and there is an absence of data in the Moroccan population. This study aims to validate the Mini-MAC, translated and adapted to the Arabic language and Moroccan culture, in women with breast cancer. Methods Data were analyzed in two successive phases. First, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to assess the factor structure in the pilot sample (N = 158). Then, this structure was confirmed in the validation sample (N = 203) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed Watson’s original structure underlying the Mini-MAC items: Helpless/Hopeless, Anxious Preoccupation, Fighting Spirit, Cognitive Avoidance, and Fatalism. Absolute, incremental, and parsimonious fit indices showed a highly significant level of acceptance confirming a good performance of the measurement model. The instrument showed sufficient reliability and convergent validity demonstrated by acceptable values of composite reliability (CR =0.93–0.97), and average variance extracted (AVE = 0.66–0.93), respectively. The square roots of AVE were higher than factor-factor pairs correlations, and the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations values were lesser than 0.85, indicating acceptable discriminant validity. Conclusions reliability; and both convergent and discriminant validity tests indicated that the Arabic version of the Mini-MAC had a good performance and may serve as a valid tool measuring psychological responses to cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Background: Lung cancer is a public health problem in Morocco. Multiple clinical practice guidelines recommend rapid evaluation of patients with suspected lung cancer. It is uncertain whether delays in diagnosis and management are correlated with outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate if these delays have any negative effect on outcomes. Methods: This retrospective study included 140 patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It was conducted at the Medical Oncology Department of Fez from January 2016 to December 2017. We have studied many wait times and considered that: wait time to consult (WTC) is the delay from the first symptom to initial consultation, wait time to diagnosis (WTD) is the delay from initial consultation to diagnosis, wait time to referral (WTR) is the delay from diagnosis to referral to the oncologist, and wait time to treatment (WTT) is the time from referral to treatment initiation. Our analysis used Kaplan–Meier method to estimate the overall survival (OS). To compare the OS between wait time categories, we used the logrank test. Results: The median age was 59.46 years. The sex ratio was 6 men for 1 woman. The most common histological subtype was adenocarcinoma (58.6% of cases). Eighty-two percent of patients were diagnosed at stage IV. The median WTC was 240 days (range, 15–280 days), WTD was 45 days (13–65), WTR was 54 days (13–63), and WTT was 32 days (12–40). The only factor that was associated with a long WTD was long distance (&gt; 60 km) to the hospital (p = 0.05). We found that short WTC, WTD, and WTR had better OS: 12 versus 3 months (p &lt; 0.0001), 12 versus 4 months (p &lt; 0.0001), and 14 versus 5 months (p &lt; 0.0001), respectively. We found no difference in OS between short and long WTT. Conclusion: In our study, patients with lung cancer experience significant delays from development of symptoms to first treatment initiation. We found a clear association between survival and short delays from initial symptoms to consultation, from consultation to diagnosis, and from diagnosis to referral to the department of oncology.

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