In China, the continuous data from 22 registries collected between 2000 and 2015 by the National Cancer Center showed that GC incidence increased with age and increased significantly after the age of 40 years [ 21]. With our country in the aging stage, it is more cost-effective to delay the screening age appropriately. The latest guidelines for GC screening in China recommend implementing early GC screening for those aged 45 years and older with risk factors and help to reduce mortality from gastric cancer in China. To achieve this goal, public education should be undertaken as a high level of public awareness of screening knowledge is required [22, 23]. Therefore, it is essential to determine current perceptions of screening programs among individuals ≥ 45 years. The present study provides insights into current knowledge and factors associated with knowledge about screening in this population.
Early gastric cancer screening knowledge
In this study, only 17.5% had high knowledge of early gastric cancer screening, signifying poor awareness among Chinese people aged 45 years and older. Moreover, participants had more significant cognitive deficits in screening-general and screening-specific knowledge.
For the “general knowledge" questions, only 30.6% reported that early gastric cancer has no specific symptoms. The frustrating result may be a consequence of the emphasis of educational interventions being placed on the identification of warning symptoms, ignoring the fact that most GC cases at an early stage can have no alarm symptoms [24]. Moreover, the misconception may mislead people not to screen until the symptoms appear and contribute to the high rate of advanced-stage diagnosis of GC in Chinese patients [25]. Fortunately, over half of the participants agreed that regular screening helps to detect gastric cancer early(57.6%). This indicated that respondents demonstrated reasonable awareness about the key benefits of early screening, slightly lower than those reported in the study regarding lung cancer screening [26].
In addition, there is a severe knowledge imbalance in specific screening details. For the question “how to screen," over half of the participants agreed that gastroscopy is the gold standard for early GC screening(64.0%). However, little is known about “who should be screened," even though identifying the risk group can help determine whether further early screening is urgently needed [27].In terms of H.pylori, which is known to be a significant cause of GC, previous studies showed that the nationwide average prevalence of H. pylori in China was estimated to be 59% in the general population during 2001–2014 [28].To our disappointment, only about a fifth of respondents thought people ≥ 45 years with H. pylori should be screened(20.5%). This finding shows impaired cognition of H. pylori, which is in agreement with other results [29, 30].
Regarding the question concerning “when to screen," only 19.9% knew that the starting age of early GC cancer screening in China is 45 years old, although all participants reached this screening age. Essentially, those most in need of screening are those least likely to be aware of the participation they should take to reduce risk potentially. Similar patterns have been observed in previous studies on risk factor awareness [31, 32]. There may be two reasons why this group lacks access to health-promoting information. Firstly, the relatively low figure may be attributed to the lack of national GC screening programs and awareness campaigns. Secondly, with the development of the Internet and the advent of the new media era, most middle-aged and older adults still tend to rely on traditional media, such as television and newspapers, with less access to Knowledge of GC screening [33]. Thus, considering the different groups, educational initiatives need to tailor information delivery to the intended recipients using diversified information media to tackle inequalities in awareness.
Factors associated with early gastric cancer screening knowledge
Education level was the most important independent factor associated with early GC screening scores, similar to that among other counterparts [34, 35]. Not surprisingly, it is well known that highly educated individuals will receive more disease-related education. Similarly, such groups were more likely to work in high-wage jobs, and financial unconstraints led to more significant health self-consciousness.
Further, in agreement with other studies, women had better GC screening knowledge than men, which may be worrisome because GC risk is approximately two to three times higher in men than women [36]. This may be explained by the fact that women tend to be family caregivers and thus typically come into frequent contact with the healthcare system and get more opportunities to learn health-related knowledge [37]. The result suggests that men or being with a low education level should be a key group in early GC screening education.
Aside from sociodemographic characteristics, personal/family experience of gastric diseases was a significant independent factor associated with early GC screening knowledge, in line with another study [38].On the one hand, personal experience of gastric diseases can identify people with a higher-than-usual chance of having GC. For people at an increased risk, healthcare professionals may recommend more frequent screening starting at an earlier age and provide more up-to-date information about screening [39].On the other hand, knowing information about family health history could be an excellent time to discuss these issues and pay attention to the disease, leading to an initiative to gain more knowledge about the disease[40]. Thus, individuals with personal or family experience of gastric diseases may have a higher level of knowledge about early GC screening.
Study limitations and strengths
This is the first knowledge survey focusing on early GC screening, including screening details (who, when, how) and targeting individuals within the screening age range. In addition, the study had a response rate of 88%, which might decrease nonresponse bias. Such high response rates can be attributed to support from community service centers, experienced interviewers, shorter survey duration, and a gift incentive. Our study also has some limitations. Firstly, the personal/family experience of gastric diseases was self-reported; thus, the possibility of bias in recall accuracy information could not be eliminated. Second, using a cross-sectional design to identify knowledge of screening and associated factors may imply some risk of information concealment. Therefore, future research incorporating qualitative interviews or mixed-method studies should be taken into consideration for future research.