The Awareness of Healthy Individuals about Attributable Risk Factors of Cancer

Abstract

Background and Purpose: This study aimed to determine the awareness of healthy individuals about the attributable risk factors of cancer and the reliability of their ideas. Methods: A review of relevant literature was undertaken to assemble a list of possible causes of cancer. Seventy-six healthy individuals were interviewed. Individuals were asked to declare their opinion by scoring the potential 15 cancer risk factors between 0-4. One week later, the opinions were retaken to test reliability. Results: According to the participants, smoking (94.8%) and mobile phone use (79%) had perfect consensus; being overweight (63.1%) and having a family history of cancer (92.1%) had substantial consensus; alcohol (90.8%), stress (93.5%), sunlight exposure (69.77%), plastic (84.2%), infection (57.9%), occupational exposure (67.1%), fatigue (54%), nuclear accident (96%) had moderate consensus. Air pollution (86.8%) and washing agents (77.7%) had fair consensus. Age (34.2%) was not a risk factor for cancer. All risk factors were reliable between the two assessments except age (p<0.05). Conclusion: It was determined that 14 out of the 15 risk factors carried a cancer risk according to the individuals. The formation of sufficient awareness and acceptance about risk factors has revealed the necessity of raising awareness in the fight against cancer.

Keywords

• Cancer
• public health
• risk
• awareness

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