ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cancer is a leading cause of death globally. Every year, millions of cancer patients could be saved from premature death and and suffering if they had timely access to early detection and treatment. There are two main components of early detection: early diagnosis and screening. In India, cancers of cervix, breast, mouth/oropharynx are the most frequent cancers in women. These cancers are amenable to early detection. More than two third of the cancer patients are already in an advanced and incurable stage at the time of diagnosis. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed with the aim to know the reasons for non availment of cancer screening procedures and early diagnostic facilities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was planned in Sangli, Miraj and Kupwad Corporation area during October 2013 - March 2014 by a pretested questionnaire. Women of 25 years and above were study subjects selected randomly from a cluster sample of ward with estimated sample size of 559 women. Statistical analysis was done with the help of IBM SPSS 22. RESULTS: Nearly 74% of women said that cancer is curable. For awareness about signs and symptoms, risk factors and screening test 82.3% women scored less than 50% of total score. Only 17.7% women had awareness score more than 50%. But their attitude score was > 50% in 85.2% of women. For practice score, 24.4% women scored > 50%. Significant association was found between awareness, attitude and practice scores and education, occupation and history of cancer in family, friends and neighborhood of respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Low awareness is the main barrier for undergoing cancer screening and early detection. There is a need of effective health education programme.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Prevailing socio-cultural influences lead females to desire a thin body and males a muscular body, especially in adolescents. This results in body image anxiety which may lead to social phobia. Together they can develop depression. The aim was to study the correlation of body image anxiety with social phobia and their association with depression, among adolescents. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in randomly selected colleges from a rural area of Sangli district Maharashtra, India. Stratified random sampling technique used with sample size 805. Pretested self-administered questionnaire used. Percentage, Chi-square test, binary logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Of 997 study subjects body image anxiety, social phobia and depression were observed in 232 (23.3%), 193 (19.4%) and 326 (32.7%) participants, respectively. Binary logistic regression showed that body image anxiety (OR = 1.849 [1.22, 2.804]; P = 0.004) and social phobia (OR = 4.575 [2.952-7.09]; P < 0.001) were significant predictors for depression. CONCLUSIONS: Body image anxiety and social phobia are linked with the development of depression. This impresses the need for timely counseling and education among adolescents.
