KNOWLEDGE OF ESOPHAGEAL CANCER IN MAJMAAH CITY, SAUDI ARABIA
Fahad Al. Qahtani*, Ahmed Al. Eidan, Abdullah Al. Subhi, Abdulrahman Al. Enezi, Abdulmajeed Al. Anazi and Pervez Iqbal
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Esophageal cancer is the sixth most common cause of
cancer-related death worldwide.[1] Esophageal cancer including
squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma is considered as
a serious malignancy with respect to prognosis and a fatal outcome in
the majority of cases. Methods and materials: This study was a crosssectional
study. Data were gathered from 143 participants aged 18
years and above, from Majmaah city. The project took about 2 months
to be completed (June / 2016 – July / 2016). Results: The participants
were divided to 3 age groups and the most preventable age group was
from 30 to 49 years old with 43.4% of participants. In terms of risk factors, 49.7% thought
that smoking tobacco was the only risk factor, 29.4% alcohol, 7% family history and 3.5
longstanding heart burn with nearly half of patients (49%) didn't know any. Most participants
(61.5%) didn't know any symptom of esophageal cancer while the majority who did (31.5%),
accurately stated difficulty of swallowing as the most common symptom. Regarding cancer
treatment options, 49.7% thought that non-surgical therapy was the treatment of choice, while
40.6% had no idea. The second to come treatment option was surgery (4.2%) followed by
herbal therapy (2.1%) with 3.5% thought it has no cure at all. The relation between age and
esophageal cancer knowledge variables was statistically significant throughout different age
groups in the knowledge of both risk factors and treatment options of esophageal cancer with
p-values of 0.043 and 0.001, respectively. The relation between gender and esophageal
cancer knowledge variables was statistically significant in the knowledge of associated
symptoms. Conclusion: The study concluded our targeted population had relatively good, yet promising level of knowledge of cancer. However, they varied identifying different variables of esophageal cancer. A positive statistical relationship was found between esophageal cancer knowledge with age and gender.
Keywords: .
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