Oral Cancer Awareness and Individuals’ Inclination to Its Screening and Risk Prediction in Hong Kong

Abstract

Assessing the baseline knowledge status and expectations of the target population of any health promotion and secondary prevention program is essential to the success of such intervention. To obtain this information about the Hong Kong population a priori to implementing these preventive strategies for oral cancer in addition to determining the willingness of potential screening participants to take risk-profiling assessments, a cross-sectional survey was conducted between November 2019 and March 2020. A total of 964 residents between the ages 18 and 86 years were invited to participate in this study across the three geographical areas in Hong Kong. Most participants self-reported being aware of oral cancer (86.3%), although the proportion of those with substantial knowledge on salient risk factors and early identifiable signs were very low (2.9%). Age and level of education were the only demographic characteristics associated with the knowledge status. The proportion of participants willing to attend community screening and partake in risk profiling assessment was high (83.9% and 80.9% respectively). Willingness to attend community screening was directly associated with respondents’ self-reported oral cancer awareness status (OR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.22–2.96). Also, we observed that those participants who were willing to attend screening are more inclined to take risk prediction assessments that those not willing to attend. These findings have showcased the need to intensify health promotion via personal skills development to encourage early disease presentation and will assist in the planning of these programs accordingly in the Hong Kong population.