Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of some gynecological cancer risk factors in a population of female relatives of cancer patients in Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital. Additionally, what are the levels of the women’s awareness /behavior toward available screening tools?MethodsAn individual cancer risk assessment questionnaire has been developed in the Department of Preventive Oncology, which questions the medical history, health behaviors and cancer awareness, as well as their behavior toward available cancer screening tools.ResultsThe mean age of the study population was 45.7 ± 12.2 years. Median age at menarche was 13 years (IQR, 12–14), 6.9% of the women reported their menarche was before age of 12. About 11.1% of the women had intercourse before age of 18. The median age at first delivery was 22 years. Median BMI was 24.9, with 18.3% of population having obesity. Of the women 65% were current/past smokers. Sixty-two percent of the women had never used condom. About 8% of the women were unaware about mammography and 17.7% about the Pap test.ConclusionsThis study has documented high tobacco use, low protective condom use and low rates of physical activity. Percentage of some risk factors like early menarche was lower than what was suggested for general Turkish population. Awareness and behavior of the women were better about mammography when compared to the Pap test. Considering our results, some measures should be put in place to increase people’s awareness, and to modify their behavior toward cancer prevention.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of some gynecological cancer risk factors in a population of female relatives of cancer patients in Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital
The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of some reproductive cancer risk factors in a population of female relatives of cancer patients
A cancer risk assessment questionnaire had been designed by the Department of Preventive Oncology and filled by relatives of cancer patients coming to the Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital in order to be diagnosed and/or treated
Summary
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of some gynecological cancer risk factors in a population of female relatives of cancer patients in Hacettepe University Oncology Hospital. What are the levels of the women’s awareness /behavior toward available screening tools?. Cancer by causing 8.2 million deaths in 2012 is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. There were 14.1 million new cases of cancer [1]. The number of cancer cases will reach 24 million a year by 2035, but half could be prevented. Gynecological cancers, which primarily originate from ovaries, uterine corpus, uterine cervix, vulva and vaginal tissues, represent more than 16% of all cancers. Its age standardized incidence rate is about 29/100,000/year. In Turkey, the rate of gynecologic cancers is 21.3 [1]
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