Query: cancer awareness

title: Has National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month increased endoscopy screening rates and public interest in colorectal cancer?
abstract: Month occurs each March to promote awareness and screening for colorectal cancer. The effectiveness of this public health campaign is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month on rates of screening endoscopies and on public interest in colorectal cancer.  To examine the impact of National Colon Cancer Awareness Month on screening endoscopy rates, the National Endoscopy Database was retrospectively reviewed from 2002 through 2014. A time series of monthly number of colorectal cancer screening endoscopies per endoscopist in the data set was evaluated. To examine public interest in colorectal cancer, Google Trends data were collected on the monthly rates of terms related to colorectal cancer from January 2004 to July 2019. Impact of the month on screening endoscopies and public interest was assessed through an analysis of variance. Seasonality was tested for by how well a sinusoidal model fit the time series as opposed to a linear model utilizing a sum of squares F test.  Review of National Endoscopy Database yielded 1,398,996 endoscopies, 94% were colonoscopies and 6% sigmoidoscopies, with 47% for colorectal cancer screening. Colorectal cancer screening endoscopy rates were not impacted by the month of the year, and these rates had no seasonality. However, Google searches related to colorectal cancer were significantly impacted by month of the year, specifically March, with significant seasonality observed in the data.  Month is associated with an increased public interest in colorectal cancer based on user Google search trends. Yet, this has not translated into a demonstrable increase in the rates of screening. This presents an opportunity to capitalize on this increased public interest and harness this enthusiasm into increased screening.

title: Success of Prostate and Testicular Cancer Awareness Campaigns Compared to Breast Cancer Awareness Month According to Internet Search Volumes: A Google Trends Analysis.
abstract: To compare the efficacy of men's and women's cancer awareness campaigns using internet relative search volume (RSV) as a surrogate for public interest.  We utilized Google Trends to determine the RSV for "breast cancer," "prostate cancer," and "testicular cancer" from 2010 2017. Baseline annual RSV for each cancer was calculated as the median annual RSV, exclusive of the awareness month period. RSV was then determined for each cancer specific awareness month and compared to baseline. The primary outcome was two fold rise in RSV above baseline.  Month led to a significant increase in cancer specific RSV in October each year during the study period (mean increase 180.1% In contrast, none of the men's cancer awareness campaigns led to a significant increase in cancer specific RSV in any year during the study period. RSV for prostate cancer increased by 2.4% and 4.1% in September and November, respectively. RSV for testicular cancer increased by 9.3% and 6.2% in April and November, respectively.  Men's cancer awareness campaigns did not increase cancer specific RSV, whereas Breast Cancer Awareness Month consistently increased RSV. While additional metrics are needed to evaluate the efficacy of public health campaigns, the current data suggest the need for new approaches to generate public interest in male specific malignancies.

title: The impact of breast cancer awareness interventions on breast screening uptake among women in the United Kingdom: A systematic review
abstract: The impact of breast screening awareness campaigns on mammography attendance among British women was explored. British Nursing Index, Medline, PsycINFO, Embase and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health were searched between October 2012 and February 2013. Searches identified research on breast cancer awareness interventions and breast self examination. In total, 867 articles were identified and 14 met criteria for review. Breast cancer awareness interventions were found to increase the uptake of breast self examination behaviours and increase the likelihood of breast cancer screening attendance. Predicting the impact of these interventions on survivability and general morbidity/mortality outcomes remains a challenge due to a shortage of suitably evaluated campaigns.

title: Cancer Awareness and Barriers to Medical Treatment Among Syrian Refugees and Lebanese Citizens in Lebanon
abstract: The Syrian conflict has forced over a million refugees into Lebanon, which now faces the challenge of providing healthcare for this large, vulnerable population. Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens suffer from an immense burden of cancer and encounter many barriers to obtaining healthcare. An increase in cancer awareness could prompt earlier diagnosis and treatment. This study aims to evaluate the level of cancer awareness and barriers to medical treatment among Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens in Lebanon. A descriptive cross sectional survey design was used. Four hundred seventeen Syrian refugees and 319 Lebanese citizens seeking healthcare in Lebanon completed the Cancer Awareness Measure. The mean age of Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens was 33.8 years (SD 11.9) and 41.7 years (SD 16.3) respectively. Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens were only able to recognize a low number of cancer symptoms (mean 4.2 (out of 9) SD 2.4 and 3.9, SD 2.3, respectively) and risk factors (mean 5.1 (out of 11) SD 2.6 and 5.2, SD 2.9, respectively) Barriers to seeking medical care were prevalent. The most commonly reported barrier among both samples was having no medical insurance or funds to cover the cost of treatment (78.9% and 67.7% respectively) A comprehensive restructuring of the Lebanese healthcare system and a massive influx of resources are required for Syrian refugees and Lebanese citizens to obtain adequate access to cancer treatment. To encourage early diagnosis and treatment, much more work is needed to overcome barriers and enhance knowledge of cancer.

title: Increasing cancer awareness and prevention in Africa
abstract: Cancer awareness in the general population is an absolute essential and the basis on which a cancer control programme can be constructed. Elements that go into cancer awareness and prevention efforts include knowledge of the problem and its solutions, a group of people who respect and care for the populations they want to serve, and resources. This paper discusses the importance of cancer awareness to cancer control and outlines some successful cancer awareness and control programmes in Africa. There is an audience in North America, Europe and Asia with resources that can be used. Awareness campaigns can also be used to recruit assistance and resources from governments, non governmental organisations and pharmaceutical companies. Potential funders will provide support if they see a well defined problem, a solution that is likely to be implemented and likely to work and organisations that can implement that solution.

title: The Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART)'s contributions toward reducing Asian American cancer health disparities, 2000 2017
abstract: In 2000 and in 2 subsequent 5 year cycles, the National Cancer Institute funded grantees on a regional and national basis to address community needs for cancer awareness, research, and training. The Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research and Training (AANCART) is fortunate to have been funded since 2000 to focus on mitigating cancer health disparities facing Asian Americans residing primarily in California and Hawaii. This article highlights AANCART's achievements with respect to the original specific aims and unanticipated outcomes in its most recent funded cycle.

title: Interventions for raising breast cancer awareness in women
abstract: This is a summary of a Cochrane review of O'Mahony, M. Comber, H. Fitzgerald, T. Corrigan, M.A. Fitzgerald, E. Grunfeld, E.A. Flynn, M.G. and Hegarty, J. Interventions for raising breast cancer awareness in women. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017, Issue 2, Art No: CD011396.

title: A Cross Sectional Review of Cervical Cancer Messages on Twitter During Cervical Cancer Awareness Month
abstract: The objectives of this study were to quantify personal stories about cervical cancer and to determine the proportion and sentiment (positive vs negative) of messages "tweets" that discussed cervical cancer prevention strategies on Twitter.  This study was a cross sectional Twitter review of English language top tweets about cervical cancer during the Cervical Cancer Awareness month, January 2016. Theme categories were identified, and tweets were independently coded by 2 reviewers; discrepancies in coding were resolved by a third reviewer. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed.  During January 2016, approximately 348 top tweets about cervical cancer were identified. Professional health organizations produced 20.7% of tweets, and individuals identifying themselves as health care professionals contributed an additional 4% In addition to the tweet, 45.1% attached a photo or video; 54.6% included links to a larger article. Only 11.2% of tweets included personal stories from cervical cancer patients. Among the top tweets, 70.3% were focused on prevention through screening and/or HPV vaccination, with 97.4% recommending such practices. A substantial proportion of the Twitter traffic (24.7% referenced the #SmearForSmear campaign by the patient advocate organization Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, based in the United Kingdom.  Analysis of top tweets during the cervical cancer awareness month showed that, although personal stories about cervical cancer were rare, cervical cancer prevention was a popular topic during the cervical cancer awareness month. This was largely driven by a picture based twitter campaign from a single advocacy organization.

title: Evaluation of the SnapChat mobile social networking application for breast cancer awareness among Saudi students in the Dammam Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
abstract: The main aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the SnapChat social networking mobile application in increasing the awareness of breast cancer among the Saudi female students in the Dammam region of Saudi Arabia.  An intervention study was carried out with 200 participants divided among 2 groups: a control group and an intervention group. The control group did not receive any awareness materials, and the intervention group received awareness about breast cancer through SnapChat using videos, texts, and pictures. A questionnaire based survey was conducted at the beginning and at the end of the study to assess the change in the awareness among the participants.  A significant improvement in the breast cancer awareness was found in the intervention group with P=0.001. The mean knowledge was found to be increased from 8.7+ 2.8 to 14.8+ 3.01 (mean SD)  The SnapChat mobile social networking application can be effectively used in creating breast cancer awareness among the Saudi population.

title: Assessing Oral Cancer Awareness Among Dental Students
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess oral cancer awareness among undergraduate dental students in Marmara University Faculty of Dentistry. A validated questionnaire which tested oral cancer awareness was given to third and fifth year students of the dental faculty of Marmara University. A total of 198 students participated in this survey. Knowledge of oral cancer risk factors and diagnosis procedures, dentistry student's attitude towards oral cancers, management practice regarding oral cancer, and oral cancer information sources were assessed using 25 questions. The data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 program. Among 198 participant dentistry students, there were 99 (50% third grade and 99 (50% fifth grade students. The largest number of the third and last grade students identified tobacco (98% and alcohol usage (87.4% prior oral cancer lesions (94.9% viral infections (91.9% UV exposure (94.4% betel quid chewing (84.8% older age (62.1% and low consumption of fruit and vegetables (85.4% Both groups showed higher scores in indicating squamous cell carcinoma as the most common form of oral cancer (p 0.05) yet, third grade students performed significantly higher scores in indicating erythroplakia and leukoplakia for most likely to be precancerous (p 0.001; p 0.05) This study highlighted the importance of improved educational methods for dentistry on oral cancer detection and prevention.