Knowledge about Risk Factors for Cancer among Adults in Nepal
Abstract
Cancer accounts for 8% mortality in Nepal and is an emerging public health concern. It is believed that increasing the basic knowledge about cancer is vital to decreasing the burden of cancer diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of this study was to identify cancer awareness among Nepali adults. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in five wards of Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan city. A random sample of 300 Nepali adults aged 20–60 years participated in this study. Most participants (45.3%) were aged 20–40 years and 50.7% (N=152) were male. About 84.3% (N= 252) participants were literate and 30.7% (N =92) had a university level education. A total of 27.3% (N =82) had a family history of non-communicable diseases. The male participants smoked and consumed alcohol more than did the females (p <0.05). Television (78.3%) was reported as the most common information source, and 85% of participants had heard most information about lung cancer. Smoking was considered a major risk factor by 92% of participants. Although 69.3% believed cancer was preventable if diagnosed early, and only 11% (N = 33) had undergone screening for cancer. Only 19.6% of literate and middle-aged females had undergone cervical cancer screening. A total of 95% of participants showed a strong need for cancer education. Logistic regression showed that educational level was not a significant factor for knowledge about cancer (p=0.846, Odds ratio=0.944). This study showed a
strong need for awareness about cancer and screening tests to ameliorate increasing cance risk.
Keywords: Risk factors, Cancer, Knowledge, Nepal.
References
[1] Ahmad, M.M. “Knowledge and beliefs about Cancer Prevention and Care in Jordan.” International Journal of Medicine. 1(1) (2015):1-5 Assessed November 22, 2015 http: //iosrd.org/journals/index.php/ijm/article/view/57/83
[2] Al Azri, M., Al Hamedi, I., Al Awisi, H., Al Hinai, M., and Davidson ,R. “Public Awareness of Warning Signs and Symptoms of Cancer in Oman: A Community- Based Survey of Adults”. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 16(7) (2015):2731-7, accessed November 12, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2015.16.7.2731
[3] Al- Naggar, R.A., Jillson, I.A., Abu- Hamad, S., Mumford, W., and Bobryshev, Y.V. “Knowledge and beliefs of Malaysian Adolescents Regarding Cancer”. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 16(3) (2015): 1097-1103, accessed on November 20, 2015 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273152511
[4] Aryal, U.R., Deuba, K., Subedi, A., Shrestha, R., and Bhatta, L. “Prevalence and determinants of Cigarette smoking among the college students of Kathmandu valley.” Asian Journal of Medical Sciences 1 (2010):53-8 accessed on January 20, 2016 http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/AJMS/article/view/3279
[5] Bhurgri, H.,Gowani, S.A., Itrat, Samani, S., Zuberi, A., Siddique, M.S., Qidwai Dr, W. and Bhurgri, Y. “Awareness of cancer risk factors among patients and attendants presenting to a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan”. Journal of Pakistan Medical Association 58(10) (2008):584-7 accessed November 18, 2015 http:// jpma.org.pk/PdfDownload/1522.pdf
[6] Binu, V.S., Subba, S.H., Menezes, R.G., Kumar, G., Ninan, J., Rana, M.S., Chhetri, S.K., Sabu, K.M. and Nagraj, K. “Smoking among Nepali Youth- Prevalence and Predictors”. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 11(2010):221-26 accessed August 31, 2016 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44900619
[7] Chawla,R., Sathian, B., Mehra, A., Kiyawat V., Garg, A., and Sharma, K. “Awareness and Assessment of Risk Factors for Lung Cancer in residents of Pokhara Valley.” Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention. 11 (2010):1789-93 accessed on January 30, 2016. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49852349_ Awareness_and_assessment_of_risk_factors_for_lung_cancer_in_residents_ of_Pokhara_Valley_Nepal
[8] Feizi, A., Kazemnejad, A., Hosseini, M., Parsa yekta, Z., and Jamali, J. “Assessing Awareness Level about Warning Signs of Cancer and its Determinants in an Iranian General Population”. Journal of Health Population and Nutrition 6 (2011):656- 9, accessed November 13, 2015 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC3259730/pdf/jhpn0029-0656.pdf
[9] http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases/ cancer
[10] http://www.searo.who.int/entity/noncommunicable_diseases/advocacy/ cancer_fact_sheet.pdf?ua=1
[11] http://www.searo.who.int/entity/noncommunicable_diseases/topics/ cancer_fact_sheet.pdf?ua=1
[12] http://www.who.int/cancer/country-profiles/npl_en.pdf
[13] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/
[14] Inoue, M., Iwasaki, M., Tetsuya, O., Sasazuki, S., and Tsugane, S. “Public Awareness of risk factors for cancer among the Japanese general population: A populationbased survey.” BMC Public Health 6 (2006):2, accessed November 20, 2016 http://www.koreascience.or.kr/search/articlepdf_ocean.jsp?url=http: //ocean.kisti.re.kr/downfile/volume/apocp/POCPA9/2014/v15n13/POCPA9_ 2014_v15n13_5401.pdf&admNo=POCPA9_2014_v15n13_5401
[15] Kumar, G., Premarajan, K.C., Subitha, L., Suguna, E. and Vinayagamoorthy, V.K. “Prevalence and pattern of alcohol consumption using Alcohol use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) in rural Tamil Nadu, India.” Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research 7 (2013):1637-39, accessed August 31, 2016. https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3782918/
[16] MacTiernan, A., Fritschi, L., Slevin, T., Jalleh, G., Donovan, R. and Heyworth, J. “Public Perceptions of Cancer Risk Factors: a Western Australian study.” Health Promotion Journal of Australia. 25 (2014): 90-6, accessed January 20, 2016, http://dx.doi. org/10.1071/HE13081
[17] Raj, S., Piang, L.K., Nair, K.S., Tiwari ,V.K., Kaur, H., and Singh, B. “Awareness Regarding Risk Factors, Symptoms and Treatment Facilities for Cancer in Selected States of India.” Asia Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 13 (2012): 4057- 62, accessed November 18, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2012.13.8. 4057
[18] Ravichandran K., Mohamed, G., and Al Hamdan, N.A. “Public knowledge on cancer and its determinants among Saudis in the Riyadh Region of Saudi Arabia.” Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 11 (2010): 1175-80, accessed November 12, 2015, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/12/3
[19] Sankaranarayanan, R., Ramadas, K., and Qiao, Y. “Managing the changing burden of cancer in Asia.” Medicine for Global Health 12 (2014):3, accessed November 18, 2015, http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10. 1186/1741-7015-12-3
[20] Sherpa, A.T., Karki, B.S., Sundby, J., Nygard, M., Franceschii, S. and Clifford, G. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research 7(8) (2013):1637-39, accessed October 20, 2016, www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/download/11994/9748
[21] World Health Organization. “Cancer mortality rate- Nepal.” Accessed July 22, 2016
[22] World Health Organization. “Cancer” Accessed December 12, 2015
[23] World Health Organization. “Cancer”. Accessed December 12, 2015
[24] World Health Organization. “Non-Communicable Diseases” Accessed December 12, 2015
[25] World Health Organization. “Why we cannot ignore non-communicable diseases” Accessed December 12, 2015