ABSTRACT
Objectives: To report data regarding the awareness and practice of cancer prevention among Koreans in 2021 and behavioral changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We collected Cancer Prevention Awareness and Practice Survey data through face-to-face interview surveys using a structured questionnaire, which was completed by 4,000 randomly selected men and women aged between 20 and 74 years in 17 provinces. We examined the awareness and practice of 10 cancer prevention recommendations. To evaluate the associations of potential risk factors with awareness and practice of cancer prevention, we used multiple logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, residence, marital status, education, and income. Results: Eighty percent of participants knew that cancer is preventable, while 45% practiced cancer prevention. The practice tended to be higher in older age (aOR: 1.4 per 10 years increment) and lower in rural (aOR: 0.7, 95% CI: 0.5-0.9) than in urban areas and in single people (aOR: 0.9, 95% CI: 0.5-0.7) than in married people. Practices were the highest for avoiding burned or charred foods (87.6%) and lowest for vaccination against human papillomavirus (14.5%). Refusal to follow recommendations was the highest for avoiding alcohol consumption (7.9%). The most difficult recommendations to follow were (1) regular exercise (57.7%); (2) maintaining healthy body weight (46.1%); and (3) avoiding alcohol (40.1%). The most significant COVID-19-related changes were less exercise (32.5%) and increased body weight (25.6). Conclusion: The awareness of cancer prevention is high, but the practice is low. Recommendations targeting awareness and practice need to be further promoted.