Awareness rate and influencing factors of elderly cancer patients in a community of Shanghai / 上海预防医学

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo explore the awareness rate and the influencing factors of notification in elderly cancer patients， and to improve the community health management. MethodsA total of 622 cancer patients were selected from a community health service center in Jing’an District of Shanghai， who participated in the Survey of Unified Needs Assessment of Elderly Care in Shanghai. ResultsThe overall awareness rate was 62.86%. Multivariate analysis showed that elderly patients were more likely to have disease notification than younger patients. Patients were less likely to have notification if they were without spouse， with care needs and with more diseases other than cancer. Patients with family history of cancer， living with children were more likely to have notification （P< 0.05）. Different tumor types might also influence the notification. Moreover， under the control of different factors， the influence effect on patients in specific age group may be different. （This sentence， in Chinse and English abstracts is confusing. Suggest authors to revise） ConclusionCommunity workers should develop corresponding health management strategies to improve the patients’ proper awareness， based on tumor category， of patient health status and family attitude.