Abstract
Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy and the fourth leading cause of mortality worldwide. CRC has been the most common cancer among men and the third commonest among women since 2002 in Saudi Arabia (SA).
Objectives: To study the pattern of Knowledge. Attitude, and Practice (KAP), regarding CRC in Jeddah city, SA.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on online using Google forms sent to residents in Jeddah, SA. The total number enrolled was 364 subjects. Data was collected using a questionnaire which provided information on the socio-demographic characteristics, and KAP of the subjects about CRC. SPSS version 23 was used; Multi-nominal logistic regression was used and the OR and 95% Cl were calculated. The level of significance was 0.05. Results: The mean scores of knowledge was 13.21 (out of 36), of attitude was 32.8 (out of 40), and that of practice was 3.59 (out of 9). The knowledge score was positively associated with the attitude score (r =.174, p<0.001), and the practice (r= 0.221, p <0.000). Those with clerical jobs. were two times more likely to have higher KAP score compared to manual workers (OR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.03, 4.05; p<0.04).
Subjects who had ever heard about CRC, were three times more likely to have higher KAP score than those who hadn't (OR: 0.282; 95% CI: 0.141, 0.563; p < 0.000). Subjects who had ever heard about CRC screening were three times more likely to have higher KAP score than those who hadn't (OR: 0.328; 9596CI: 0.199, 0.539; p < 0.000). '
Conclusions: Although CRC is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in KSA, yet the KAP of the studied subjects were defective. There is an urgent need to implement health education programs to raise the KAP standards of the community about CRC. More research, about this issue, in different regions of the Kingdom needs to be conducted.