Abstract B90: Researching the perception of risk about colorectal cancer among African immigrants in the Chicago metropolitan area: A preliminary study
Authors: Peprah Yaw Amofa , Kim Karen E. , Lam Helen 
Published: May 2015

Objectives: There has been a strong presence of African immigrants in Chicago, especially since 1996. According to an assessment by United African Organization (UAO), a major hub to provide social services for African Americans in the Chicago area, more than 70 percent of these immigrants arrived between the years of 1996 and 2008. Colorectal cancer affects every 62 of 100,000 African Americans according to CDC, and is the third leading cause of cancer death in America according to the American Cancer Society. Yet, there is no such data to study how the disease affects African immigrants, or an educational blueprint to create awareness to the health risk among African immigrants. The purpose of this study is to document colorectal cancer baseline data among African immigrants in Illinois in an effort to identify some of the barriers, risks and screening behaviors that exposes the priority population to colorectal cancer.

Methods: This study was based on a convenience sample of 68 participants response to quantitative survey tool, which was administered over the course of three months at a church that served the congregation in Chicago, and three semi-structured interviews of community leaders from United African Organization, Ghana National Council and ACUMC to document baseline data and to serve as a guideline to designing the survey. Demographic questions such as age, family income, place of birth, marital status etc, was asked to assess demographic status. Other questions such as overall health rating, insurance coverage, having a primary physician, most recent visit to the doctor etc were also asked to understand the priority population's utilization of the healthcare system upon immigrating to America. Furthermore, questions regarding risk and overall health ratings, knowledge of colorectal, breast and lung cancers etc were asked as a step to understanding the priority population's perceived risk of colorectal cancer compared to other popularly known cancers and how they may be at risk of colorectal cancer in particular.

Results: Majority of the participants (n = 66) were born in Africa and even though majority of participants also reported to having completed college in their respective African countries (45.2%), majority earned only between $25,000 and $50,000 (35.5%). Despite reports of low earnings, majority reported having some health insurance (58.1%), majority of the sample had been living in the United States for at least 20 years (38.7%), and believed they are at no risk of colorectal cancer (32.3%). Analysis suggested that 67.7% of the participants either heard about colorectal cancer from a doctor visit or in the news. Majority (78%) of the participants who had lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years had heard about CRC. Moreover, Nearly 41% of the participants believed that they had zero risk of CRC on a 0 (no risk at all) to 10 (extremely high risk) scale. The other 38.3% considered themselves with very low risk, 1 or 2 on the 10-point scale. Results from data analysis suggest income, among other factors plays a significant role in the priority population's knowledge of colorectal cancer (p = 0.011).

Conclusion: Although there was a small sample of people surveyed, results suggest the potential many members of the priority population believe they are at no risk of colorectal cancer. However, the literature point to western diets as the main risk of colorectal cancer for African immigrants. Data collected allowed for the creation of an educational brochure that seeks to educate the priority population and create awareness in an effort to promote screening for colorectal cancer.

Citation Format: Yaw Amofa Peprah, Karen E. Kim, Helen Lam. Researching the perception of risk about colorectal cancer among African immigrants in the Chicago metropolitan area: A preliminary study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B90. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-B90