ABSTRACT
The current study sought to evaluate the health-seeking behavior and related factors among head and neck cancer patients who were visiting a cancer treatment center. A total of 150 patients with head and neck cancer in the age range of 20–65 years were included in the study. A pretested, structured questionnaire with 20 closed-ended questions was used to cover topics like sociodemographics, personal vices, the patient’s medical history, events after diagnosis, and knowledge of cancer. Patients who were unemployed were more likely to put off seeking medical attention than those who were employed. This finding was statistically significant. More initiative and creative action should be made by government and non-government organizations to provide ongoing periodic screening, counseling, and health education to the general public.
KEYWORDS: Behavioral assessment, counseling, head and neck cancer, health assessment
INTRODUCTION
Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are among the cancers that are becoming significant public health issues. According to estimates from the National Institute of Malignancy Prevention and Research, HNCs are the second most frequent malignancy in India, accounting for 0.47 million annual diagnoses.[1,2]
HNC is the most common cancer in men and the third most common in women. Oropharyngeal cancer is the most common cancer in India, where it accounts for 30–40% of all malignancies and has a death rate of 18% for men and 7% for women.[3,4]
Patient delay was defined as the amount of time it took someone to seek their first professional advice after becoming aware of their symptoms. The interval between these two phases is referred to as the combined appraisal and help-seeking interval. It is considered delayed health-seeking behavior if this period of time is longer than three months.[5,6]
Lack of information, worry, competing life events, learning coping skills before seeing a doctor, and fatalistic notions like “cancer cannot be cured” are just a few of the things that deter people from getting medical care.[7,8,9,10]
These criteria were all mentioned by people with advanced illness stages and were related to the lengthiest lags between symptom onset and expression. The current study sought to evaluate the health-seeking behavior and related factors among head and neck cancer patients who were visiting a cancer treatment center.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The present analysis was conducted at the Department of Oncology, Head and Neck Surgery in the Medical College and Associated Hospital. The study was done in association with the before the study’s launch and an ethical clearance certificate was obtained.
The study comprised a total of 150 head and neck cancer patients between the ages of 20 and 65. Patients who refused to participate, had a speech impairment, were mentally unstable, or did not sign an informed permission form were all excluded from the study.
A pretested, structured questionnaire with 20 closed-ended questions was used to gather the data. It covered topics like the Sociodemographics of patients with head and neck cancer, personal vices, the patient’s medical history, events after diagnosis, and knowledge and attitudes toward cancer.
The statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) 25.0 version was used to examine the baseline characteristics of the study participants.
RESULTS
The average age of the study participants was found to be 49.02 ± 13.39 years, with the 41–60 age groups having a higher percentage than the other age groups (53%). Males (72%) had a higher frequency than females (28%). More than half of the participants in the current study had tobacco-related behavior.
The majority of patients with head and neck cancer (55.33%) were removed from their jobs or stopped working [Table 1]. Patients who were unemployed were more likely to put off seeking medical attention than those who were employed.
Table 1.
Distribution of study participants according to lifestyle behavior
| Lifestyle behavior | Number | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Removed from their jobs or stopped working | 83 | 55.33 |
| Financial situation | 40 | 26.6 |
| Sleeping patterns | 11 | 7.33 |
| Social activities | 9 | 6 |
| The separation of family members | 5 | 3.3 |
| The separation of their partners | 1 | 0.6 |
| The beginning of their partner’s employment | 1 | 0.6 |
When compared to patients with additional oral cancer, study participants with intraoral cancer were shown to have a 1-time increased risk of delaying medical care, but the findings were statistically insignificant (P > 0.05). It was observed that those who smoked were three times more likely to put off seeking medical attention than those who abstained, with a statistical significance of P = 0.001 [Table 2].
Table 2.
Association between the clinical details of head and neck cancer with the health-seeking behavior
| Variables | Health-seeking behavior | P | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||
| <3 months | <3 months | ||
| Site of cancer | |||
| Intraoral | 18 | 69 | 1.14 |
| Extraoral | 15 | 48 | |
| Stage of cancer | 0.004 | ||
| Advanced | 2 | 117 | |
| Early | 25 | 6 | |
| Common symptoms | 13 | 64 | 1.45 |
| Coping with the symptoms | 0.34 | ||
| Tried | 20 | 107 | |
| Did not tried | 6 | 17 | |
DISCUSSION
The males in our study had a higher predominance of head and neck cancer (72%), and this finding may be related to the fact that men are more likely than women to smoke. The majority of patients with head and neck cancer were illiterate (31%); however, there was no correlation between these factors and delaying seeking medical attention. Oral carcinoma is included in the anatomical groups of malignancies for which this mechanism is not specifically stated.[11]
Sathiya Priya et al.[12] reported in a study published in 2020 that study participants generally lacked knowledge and awareness of the early signs and symptoms of head and neck cancer. As a result, to raise people’s awareness, public health initiatives like regular oral screenings through governmental and non-governmental organizations and health education programs need to be developed to include early detection of cancer symptoms, behavioral changes, and a healthy lifestyle.[7]
In the current study, 62 of the 82 patients who reported intraoral symptoms and were considering seeing a doctor did so; the others went to general practitioners. This demonstrates that the patients’ awareness of and familiarity with dental practitioners was lacking.[13,14]
Compared to patients in a nuclear family, patients in a joint family were more likely to seek early medical care if they discussed their symptoms with family members because, in a joint family, everyone contributed to the household’s financial support and tasks. Even though the majority of patients were tardy in seeking medical counsel, they were of the mindset that they did so promptly. This implies a lack of knowledge about the importance of quick health-seeking behavior for early diagnosis and treatment outlook.
CONCLUSION
More initiative and creative action should be taken by government and non-government organizations to provide ongoing periodic screening, counseling, and health education to the general public. So that people’s health-seeking behavior will be improved and encourage them to look for early symptoms, which will lower the incidence of cancer globally.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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