Ethnic minority groups less informed about cancer symptoms

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to new findings presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Liverpool, United Kingdom, ethnic minorities in England were less informed about cancer symptoms and were less likely to see a doctor when they thought they had a possibly serious symptom.

Researchers at King's College London in London, United Kingdom, analyzed about 50,000 responses from the Cancer Research UK Cancer Awareness Measure, a national population-based survey to investigate levels of cancer awareness. Researchers found that people with a black ethnic background were half as likely as white people to identify unexplained bleeding as a possible cancer symptom.

People of South Asian descent were a one-fourth as likely as white people to identify an explained lump as a possible cancer symptom. In addition, people with South Asian backgrounds were more likely to report embarrassment and low confidence to discuss their symptoms with their doctor, while white people were more concerned about wasting the physician's time.

The findings suggest that more public awareness is needed to help people identify cancer symptoms earlier in disease progression and that people need to be encouraged to discuss unexplained changes in their body with their physician.