Correlation between patient understanding of health information on prostate diseases and health status on presentation to hospital

Abstract

Background: Many countries have poor patient health education and understanding of prostate diseases. The Kenyan situation has not been adequately documented. Objective: To establish the relationship between sources of health education on prostate diseases and patient health status at presentation to hospital. Methods: A hospital-based census study was conducted using interviewer-administered questionnaire after ethical approval. Patients who presented to a urology clinic for the first time with prostatism were recruited after they provided informed consent. Collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0 and statistical significance was set at p≤0.05. Results: A total of 126 patients were recruitedfrom July 2016 to June 2018. The three sources of information were Informal sources such as friends and relatives (81%), the Internet (8.7%), and Health Workers (10.3%). Thirty-two (25.4%) patients had health information on prostate and its diseases. The duration of symptoms ranged from 1 month to 4 years. The difference in the proportions of those who presented within the first year of symptoms was statistically significant (p<0.001) for those whose sources were Health Workers (76.7%), the Internet (72.7%), and Informal sources (43.1%). Conclusion: Health education on prostate diseases is positively correlated with the health status at presentation.