IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i9p2984-d350347.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Knowledge of Environmental Risk Factors for Cancer among the UAE Population: A Pilot Study

Author

Listed:
  • Samrein B.M. Ahmed

    (College of medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE
    Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Sara Amer

    (College of medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Amal Hussein

    (College of medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Drishti D. Kampani

    (College of medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Nour Al Hasham

    (College of medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Mohamed M. Assker

    (College of medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Nour Shawa

    (Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Dima Saleh

    (College of medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, UAE)

  • Khalid O. Alfarouk

    (Alfarouk Biomedical Research LLC, Temple Terrace, FL 33617, USA)

Abstract

The incidence of cancer is increasing worldwide as well as in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Currently, researchers are advocating not only for prevention programs but also for early detection. In this study, we aimed to assess the general awareness of cancer among the UAE population, with a focus on environmental risk factors. A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed, and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 385 participants. A total of 91.2% of the study population identified cancer as the leading cause of death, while 64.6% of the subjects were able to identify the key causes of cancer. A total of 87.3% and 70.5% of the participants were able to define tobacco and alcohol, respectively, as cancer-causing agents. Most of the study population failed to identify cancer-related infectious agents and incense smoke as carcinogens. Respondents in the medical professions had the highest knowledge score when compared with respondents with a non-medical profession and unemployed participants ( p < 0.0005). To fill the gaps in cancer-related knowledge, participants were asked about their preferred method for cancer education, and 83.9% of the participants favored the media as a source of information. Conclusively, our findings indicated a gap in cancer knowledge among UAE residents, which highlights the importance of educational campaigns by health authorities; a follow-up study evaluating the success of educational campaigns is also warranted.

Suggested Citation

  • Samrein B.M. Ahmed & Sara Amer & Amal Hussein & Drishti D. Kampani & Nour Al Hasham & Mohamed M. Assker & Nour Shawa & Dima Saleh & Khalid O. Alfarouk, 2020. "Assessing the Knowledge of Environmental Risk Factors for Cancer among the UAE Population: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-12, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:9:p:2984-:d:350347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/2984/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/2984/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marek Milcarz & Kinga Polanska & Leokadia Bak-Romaniszyn & Dorota Kaleta, 2018. "Tobacco Health Risk Awareness among Socially Disadvantaged People—A Crucial Tool for Smoking Cessation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-12, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Khalid Akkour & Shahad Alsuwaidan & Mohammed Almoqren & Futoon Alsaleh & Lolowah Alghuson, 2022. "An Observational Cross-Sectional Study on Cancer Awareness and Beliefs about Carcinogens among Saudi Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-11, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Małgorzata Znyk & Kinga Polańska & Leokadia Bąk-Romaniszyn & Dorota Kaleta, 2020. "Correlates of Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Level Testing Among a Socially-Disadvantaged Population in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Jakub Szymański & Aurelia Ostrowska & Jarosław Pinkas & Wojciech Giermaziak & Edyta Krzych-Fałta & Mateusz Jankowski, 2022. "Awareness of Tobacco-Related Diseases among Adults in Poland: A 2022 Nationwide Cross-Sectional Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-13, May.
    3. Charlotta Pisinger & Cecilie Goltermann Toxværd & Mette Rasmussen, 2022. "Smoking Cessation Programs Are Less Effective in Smokers with Low Socioeconomic Status Even When Financial Incentives for Quitting Smoking Are Offered—A Community-Randomized Smoking Cessation Trial in," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-15, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:9:p:2984-:d:350347. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.