Knowledge of cancer risk factors and risk-reduction in high-income countries

Abstract

According to the International Public Opinion Survey on Cancer 2020, on average, nearly 1 in 3 individuals in high-income countries (HIC) did not engage in risk reduction. Meanwhile, only 1 in 4 individuals reported being aware that eating red and processed meat was a cancer risk factor. We explored relations between risk-reduction behavior and self-perceived knowledge of cancer risk factors in HIC using data from the survey. The average effect of knowledge, and interaction effects with country and risk factor were estimated using a linear model fit. The model included main and two-way interaction terms between the proportion of respondents who knew about a specific risk factor, and risk factor and country. The overall significance of knowledge impact and interaction terms was tested using type III tests in ANCOVA. Based on our analysis, we found that knowledge of cancer risk factors was positively associated with risk reduction in HIC. Every unit increase in the proportion of the population knowledgeable about a cancer risk factor, on average across risk factors and HIC, significantly increases the proportion of people engaging in risk reduction by approximately 16.91%. A significant interaction effect was found between knowledge and country, but not between knowledge and risk factor. Using respondents' non-response options to represent lack of risk factor knowledge Japan had the largest percentage of individuals lacking knowledge about risk factors as well as the largest percentage of individuals not engaging in risk reduction.

Keywords: Disease prevention; Health promotion; High-income countries; Primary cancer prevention; cancer awareness; cancer risk factors; cancer risk reduction.