Knowledge on colorectal cancer prevention among adults attending at a tertiary level hospital

Colorectal cancer ranks among the third most common cancer worldwide, second in terms of mortality due to cancer and has shown an increasing trend of incidence in Asian region lately.    In Nepal, It is among the top five most common cancers in both males and females. Over the next ten years, countries in the low- income Asia pacific region including Nepal are projected to have the highest colorectal cancer  growth rates of 70%. Owing to the growing burden, there is demand for more research in the field and hence strategies to increase the knowledge on colorectal cancer. The American cancer society asserts that colorectal cancer is common after age 50 and its screening should start after age 45. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge on colorectal cancer including knowledge on preventive lifestyle and screening tests among adults. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted from 2018 october- 2019 January among 110 non- cancer patients and adults aged 40-75 years attending Nepal Medical college Teaching Hospital. Non-probability purposive sampling was done. Structured interview questionnaire adopted from standard bowel cancer awareness measure (CAM) developed by cancer research UK was used for data collection. Frequency distribution, mean values and chi-square value were computed for statistical analysis. Results show that 81.8% had heard of colorectal cancer in their lifetime while 18.2% had never heard of it before. The main source of information was friends (47.7%)  Of those who had heard of colorectal cancer, 92.2% believed colorectal cancer is preventable while 23.3% had in fact heard about colorectal cancer screening tests and mean knowledge percentage on the domain was only 14.44%. Mean knowledge percentage was found highest (74.6%) for knowledge regarding preventive lifestyle practices. Majority (65.6%) had moderate level of knowledge, 24.4% had inadequate knowledge while only 10% had adequate level of knowledge. Significant statistical association was not found between level of knowledge and selected demographic variables like age, sex, education, occupation (p<0.05) There is need of extensive public awareness programs on colorectal cancer with a focus on screening tests to fill the gaps of knowledge and promote utilization of early screening methods for prevention. Health care professional should be able to provide planned, structured health teaching on colorectal cancer to disseminate authentic information on the topic.