Assessment of Public Awareness of Cancer Warning Signs Among Rural Population, Kochi. Kerala

In the study to assess the public awareness of cancer warning signs among rural population, 200 subjects were selected using non probability convenience sampling technique. Modified Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) was used to assess the awareness. Awareness of cancer warning signs was low when open-ended type (recall) questions were used and higher with closed type (recognition) questions; but on either measure, awareness was lower in those who were male, older, unmarried. None of the respondents knew all the warning signs of cancer. It was interesting that almost 55 % and 60% of respondents could correctly name the commonest cancer to be the breast cancer in females and lung cancer in males. The most commonly endorsed barriers to help seeking were economical problems (62%), worry about what doctor might find (56.5%) too scared 96(48%) and embarrassed 94(47%). The majority of respondents indicated that they would seek medical help in less than 2 week for most symptoms. There is significant association between awareness on cancer warning signs with age (38-57). (p=0.034.), highest education group (p=0.003), participants with no personal history of smoking (p=0.035) and no personal history of alcoholism (p=0.001).