Assessing the Knowledge of Environmental Risk Factors for Cancer among the UAE Population: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The incidence of cancer is increasing worldwide as well as in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Currently, researchers are advocating not only for prevention programs but also for early detection. In this study, we aimed to assess the general awareness of cancer among the UAE population, with a focus on environmental risk factors. A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed, and a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 385 participants. A total of 91.2% of the study population identified cancer as the leading cause of death, while 64.6% of the subjects were able to identify the key causes of cancer. A total of 87.3% and 70.5% of the participants were able to define tobacco and alcohol, respectively, as cancer-causing agents. Most of the study population failed to identify cancer-related infectious agents and incense smoke as carcinogens. Respondents in the medical professions had the highest knowledge score when compared with respondents with a non-medical profession and unemployed participants (p < 0.0005). To fill the gaps in cancer-related knowledge, participants were asked about their preferred method for cancer education, and 83.9% of the participants favored the media as a source of information. Conclusively, our findings indicated a gap in cancer knowledge among UAE residents, which highlights the importance of educational campaigns by health authorities; a follow-up study evaluating the success of educational campaigns is also warranted.

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“…Finally, this current study has shown that there was a better knowledge and practice associated with gender (Females), old people (≤ 40), education (higher education), and employment status (employed). Our results are consistent with other studies that reported similar significance in terms of better knowledge among the females, educated, old people, and employed people [22][23].…”

“…Enhancing the immune system during the periods for COVID-19 can be achieved through focusing on sleeping well, eating healthy food, avoiding food with high sugar and fat, stop smoking and drinking alcohol, taking vitamin D and C, and high zinc nutrients. In this study, most of our participants were females, under 40-49 years old, married, non-Emirati, from Sharjah, college to higher education levels, this is consistent with the UAE population and similar demographics of respondents of recent research studies in the UAE [19,22,23].…”

“…As well as, a higher level of physical activity observed during lockdown than before COVID-19 pandemic among individuals in Australia, UK, and USA [35]. Studies indicated that alcohol damages the body's immune system and increases the risk of negative health consequences (Ding et al, 2020), The percentage we found was higher than that for UAE residents in UAE, 70.5% [22]. The total score practices of alcohol consumption did not change before and during the COVID-19 outbreak, that may be due to the low percentage of participants in our study that consumed alcohol.…”

An Observational Cross-Sectional Study on Cancer Awareness and Beliefs about Carcinogens among Saudi Women

“…Regarding risk factors and carcinogens, respondents were aware of certain environmental and chemical carcinogens, most notably smoking. Many national (Sabi et al) [ 13 ] (Alghamdi et al) [ 11 ] (Ibrahim et al) [ 12 ] (Ravichandran et al) [ 14 ] and regional studies from the UAE (Ahmed et al) [ 15 ], Oman (Alazri et al) [ 16 ] and Lebanon (Kabalan) [ 17 ] showed that smoking was the most well-known risk factor. As (Alazri et al) stated, this might be because smoking is culturally and religiously unacceptable in Muslim Gulf Arabian cultures.…”

The Impact of Fine Particulate Matters (PM10, PM2.5) from Incense Smokes on the Various Organ Systems: A Review of an Invisible Killer

“…Thereby, the threat not only depends on source and exposure times but also the gender sensitivity, which in turn shifts the light toward an ethnicity-driven diseased manifestation. [150] The interest in exploring the healthcare effects of incense continued to grow and flourish in 2017 as rigorous investigations yet again demonstrated an urgent need to characterize the incense smoke concerning its threatening bioactivities. The first of Pubmed listed 2017 investigations, in this regard is yet again a study from Taiwan, wherein lung cancer aggravating probability of incense combustion was studied.…”