Knowledge level of the warning signs of cancer and its affecting factors in Tehran's population above 18 years

Early diagnosis of cancer warning signs and the necessary actions can be an effective step in prevention of cancer and its progression toward advanced stages of disease. The present study, as the first comprehensive research, investigated the knowledge level of the warning signs of cancer and its correlated determinants in Tehran inhabitants. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2007 on people aged above 18 years living in Tehran and Suburbs. Data were collected by means of questionnaires from 2500 persons who were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling. In this study, knowledge, considered as a latent response variable based on the knowledge of persons about each of the nine warning signs of cancer, which was evaluated by generalized latent class regression model. Moreover the factors affecting the level of knowledge were assessed. The analysis was done be means of Latent Gold software. A small portion of respondents (18.82%) had high knowledge about warning signs of cancer and more respondents had moderate (54.49%) or low (26.69%) knowledge level. The most important determinants of level of knowledge were education level, gender and marital status. This study showed that the overall level of knowledge and recognition of warning signs of cancer is low in the studied population. The obtained data about level of knowledge and its effective factors are useful in developing programs of cancer prevention, especially in the field of health education.