Lack of awareness of oesophageal carcinoma among the public in Ireland

Abstract

Awareness of oesophageal cancer and its symptoms is low amongst the public. This needs to be addressed if disease is to be detected at an earlier and curable stage.

Development of a measurement tool to assess public awareness of cancer

“…In a population-based survey in England, fewer than 1 in 10 respondents could recall Europe Against Cancer's seven warning signs for cancer (Brunswick et al , 2001). These findings are not unique to this study nor limited to generic warning signs; awareness is also low for a range of cancers (Wardle et al , 2001; Grunfeld et al , 2002; McCaffery et al , 2003; Rudberg et al , 2005; West et al , 2006; FitzGerald et al , 2008). …”

Do pharmacists contribute to patients’ management of symptoms suggestive of cancer: a qualitative study

“…Our findings, show lack of awareness of symptoms, risk factors, and ‘red‐flag symptoms’ and failure to assess symptoms as those of an illness, contribute to delay. These findings are reflected in the substantial body of evidence established in the published literature about symptom experience and assessment . The evidence strongly suggests that these are key factors in cancer patients’ delayed presentation and that identification of the existence of an illness is a necessary condition for seeking help.…”

“…Written consent was obtained immediately prior to conducting the face-to-face, audio-recorded, interviews (30-60 min long), which were conducted at a mutually convenient site (home or university) by FN. A prepiloted, semi-structured, topic guide (see Appendix S1), informed by the literature, [4,6,8,10,12,[21][22][23][24][25] was used to establish the participant's awareness, experience and assessment of their cancer symptoms, and obtain basic demographic information. The topic guide explored participants' actions to manage their symptoms, including any community pharmacy involvement.…”

“…People are encouraged to seek early professional advice for ‘suspicious’ symptoms that could be attributed to cancer . However, public awareness of these, and risk factors associated with cancer, is low . Some studies have proposed that more patient support in primary care, education about symptoms and research into patients’ self‐management of symptoms could facilitate earlier presentation, prompt referral and earlier diagnosis, potentially improving cancer outcomes …”

“…[7] However, public awareness of these, and risk factors associated with cancer, is low. [8][9][10][11][12] Some studies have proposed that more patient support in primary care, education about symptoms and research into patients' self-management of symptoms could facilitate earlier presentation, prompt referral and earlier diagnosis, potentially improving cancer outcomes. [5,6] Most cancers produce early symptoms which are often mild, mimic minor illness and are self-treated using nonprescribed remedies.…”