Is awareness enough to bring patients to colorectal screening?

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec id="j_med-2018-0077_s_006_w2aab3b8ab1b7b1aab1c16b1Aa"><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>The aim of the study was to assess the awareness of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients about CRC screening methods and to investigate the relationship between awareness, socio-demographic characteristics and the stage in which patients with CRC are diagnosed.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="j_med-2018-0077_s_007_w2aab3b8ab1b7b1aab1c16b2Aa"><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>The observational cross-sectional study included 275 CRC patients admitted between 2014 and 2016 to two surgical clinics from Tîrgu Mureş, Romania. Study variables were collected via face-to-face interview and from patients’ observation sheets.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="j_med-2018-0077_s_008_w2aab3b8ab1b7b1aab1c16b3Aa"><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Only 41.5% of the patients heard about cancer screening and 6.5% about specific CRC screening methods. Mass-media was the major source of information (85.1%) followed to a much lesser extent (14.9%) by family, friends, and colleagues. Health professionals did not contribute at all to informing patients about screening methods. Awareness about screening methods was statistically associated with the patients’ residence, age, and educational achievement, but not with the stage of CRC.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec id="j_med-2018-0077_s_009_w2aab3b8ab1b7b1aab1c16b4Aa"><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>The level of awareness of CRC screening methods was very low among the CRC patients included in the study but it could not predict the stage in which malignancy was diagnosed, suggesting that awareness alone is not enough to bring patients to undergo early CDC screening procedures.</jats:p></jats:sec>

Improving Colon Cancer Prevention in Poland. A Long Way Off

“…Moreover, inadequate knowledge among medical staff may be one of barriers affecting colorectal cancer screening rates [ 13 ]. One of the Romanian study found that health professionals did not at all contribute to providing patients with information about screening methods in colorectal cancer [ 14 ]. Different types of media were the leading sources of information in that population followed by the interpersonal contacts (family and friends).…”