Evaluation of lung cancer awareness among pharmacy students in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Evaluation of lung cancer awareness among pharmacy students in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study Sohail Ahmad1*, Muhammad Qamar1, Wong Y. Zhi1 and Nurul I. Hassan Bashri1 1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahsa University, Malaysia Background Cigarette smoking at an early age and the increasing trend of using e-cigarettes and vaping devices are potential risk factors for developing lung cancer among Malaysians. It accounts for 19.8% of all cancer mortality and is the third most common cancer in Malaysia. This study was conducted to assess the awareness of lung cancer among pharmacy students in Malaysia. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited a total of 225 pharmacy students enrolled at three private universities situated in Selangor, Malaysia. Post-approval from Cancer Research UK, a validated Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) was used. CAM consisted of five main sections: socio-demographic data (n=6), level of confidence (n=1), lung cancer age (n=1), warning signs (n=14), and risk factors (n=9) of lung cancer. The data were extracted from completed questionnaires and analyzed descriptively and inferentially using SPSS® version 22. Results Majority of the enrolled students were females (75.5%), and Malay (40.8%). The descriptive analyses of correct responses suggested that the students possessed a high level of awareness regarding warning signs (n=139, 61.7%) and risk factors (n=145, 64.4%) of lung cancer. Chi-square test showed that the age categories exhibited statistically significant associations with warning signs, χ2 (4)=14.256, p=0.007, as well as with risk factors, χ2 (4)=13.431, p=0.010. In addition, educational level, χ2 (4)=11.396, p=0.022, and smoking status, χ2 (8)=22.251, p=0.044, showed statistically significant associations with risk factors. The students’ score of warning signs and risk factors were positively correlated as suggested by Spearman's correlation (r=0.42, p=0.001). Conclusion The pharmacy students in Malaysia possess high level of lung cancer awareness. Pharmacy students therefore can contribute actively in community-based lung cancer awareness campaigns after adequate training and under the supervision of healthcare professionals. Acknowledgements This research is partially funded by the research grant awarded by Research Management Centre (RMC), MAHSA University, Selangor, Malaysia. Keywords: lung cancer, Malaysian, Pharmacy, Awareness, Students Conference: International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine 2018 (ICDDTM '18) “Seizing Opportunities and Addressing Challenges of Precision Medicine”, Putrajaya, Malaysia, 3 Dec - 5 Feb, 2019. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Cancer Citation: Ahmad S, Qamar M, Zhi WY and Hassan Bashri NI (2019). Evaluation of lung cancer awareness among pharmacy students in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study. Front. Pharmacol. Conference Abstract: International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine 2018 (ICDDTM '18) “Seizing Opportunities and Addressing Challenges of Precision Medicine”. doi: 10.3389/conf.fphar.2018.63.00016 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 21 Oct 2018; Published Online: 17 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Sohail Ahmad, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahsa University, Bandar Saujana Putra, Selangor, 42610, Malaysia, sohail@mahsa.edu.my Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Sohail Ahmad Muhammad Qamar Wong Y Zhi Nurul I Hassan Bashri Google Sohail Ahmad Muhammad Qamar Wong Y Zhi Nurul I Hassan Bashri Google Scholar Sohail Ahmad Muhammad Qamar Wong Y Zhi Nurul I Hassan Bashri PubMed Sohail Ahmad Muhammad Qamar Wong Y Zhi Nurul I Hassan Bashri Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.