Author of

• 12812

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  P3.20 - Poster Session 3 - Early Detection and Screening (ID 174)

  • Event: WCLC 2013
  • Type: Poster Session
  • Track: Imaging, Staging & Screening
  • Presentations: 1
  • Moderators:
  • Coordinates: 10/30/2013, 09:30 - 16:30, Exhibit Hall, Ground Level

  • 12820

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    P3.20-008 - Prompting earlier diagnosis of lung cancer: evaluation of a public education campaign in NSW to raise awareness of lung cancer symptoms (ID 2146)

    09:30 - 09:30  |  Author(s): M. Crane
    • Abstract

    Background
    Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both males and females in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Similar to other countries, the five-year relative survival rate for lung cancer in NSW is low, reported at 17.6% (2005-07). The poor relative survival rate suggests that in most cases, diagnosis occurs late, predominantly in stage III or IV. A multi-channel public education campaign was implemented in NSW to increase awareness of three symptoms consistent with lung cancer (persistent cough, change in cough and blood in cough) and prompt people experiencing these symptoms to see their General Practitioner (GP) immediately. If people experiencing these symptoms seek a doctor as soon as symptoms are experienced, it has the potential to reduce diagnostic delay and hence, an improvement in the five-year relative survival of lung cancer.

    Methods
    The public education campaign, comprised mass media television advertising implemented over 5 weeks (March/April 2013) at 100 TARPs per week in conjunction with public relations activity and a direct mail communication to GPs across NSW. Quantitative telephone surveys were conducted in July 2012 (pre-campaign) and April 2013 (post-campaign) with adults over 45 years of age residing in NSW (both; n=1000). Unprompted and prompted recall of the campaign were measured and levels of unprompted awareness of symptoms consistent with lung cancer and confidence in recognising symptoms consistent with lung cancer were compared between the two surveys.

    Results
    Overall, 28.7% of the targeted population recalled the campaign unprompted, increasing to 60.5% when prompted. Pre- and post-campaign results demonstrate an increase in unprompted awareness of key lung cancer symptoms emphasised by the campaign; ‘coughing up blood’ (from 39.1% to 45.4% (p = 0.004)), ‘cough that does not go away for two or three weeks’ (from 17.0% to 40.7% (p = <0.001)) but no significant different in awareness of ‘worsening or change in cough’ (6.3% to 4.6% (p = 0.096)). Post-campaign awareness of these symptoms was higher amongst non-smokers than smokers, particularly for persistent cough. Encouragingly, confidence to recognise a symptom increased from 58.8% to 67.4% (p = <0.001).

    Conclusion
    These findings suggest that a mass media public education campaign can be an effective approach to increase awareness of symptoms consistent with lung cancer and confidence in recognising these symptoms. Increased awareness and recognition of symptoms can lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment.