Public awareness of warning signs & risk factors of colon cancer & attitude towards screening in primary health care, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess public awareness of the warning signs and red flags of colon cancer and to evaluate the attitude towards screening for colon cancer. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the data were gathered from a hard-copy questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of demographic data and study factor questions. The questionnaire was distributed to 363 participants, either patients or their relatives who visited the primary care clinics in King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period of distribution from June, 2021 to February, 2022. Results: Majority of the participants answered abdominal pain as the common symptom of colon cancer (n = 248, 68.3%) followed by the presence of blood in stool (n = 177, 48.8%). Among the risk factors, inflammatory bowel disease was recognized as the biggest cause (n = 192, 52.9%). There was a statistically significant association between smoking and participants' gender (p-value = 0.018). Conclusions: Public health promotion is important to deliver the knowledge needed to achieve the highest awareness of colorectal cancer. The awareness about colorectal cancer is still not enough, there is gap which needs to be filled with a thorough education about the disease.