Mass media and awareness of cancer do not stimulate health preventive behavior in oral cancer patients and their relatives

Oral and oropharyngeal cancer incidence and mortality are increasing around the world. Although mass media could play an important role in stimulating participation in prevention and screening programs, low levels of interest of high risk individuals are usually associated with advanced stage of disease at diagnosis.
Objective: to identify the interest of mass media information on health related subjects by oral cancer patients and their relatives prior to the diagnosis of the disease.
Methods: a cross-sectional study of 130 relatives and 123 consecutive patients with oral or oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma treated at a cancer center in Brazil  Patients ranged in age from 20 to 83 years, and 97 (79%) were male. Only one patient had and in situ carcinoma, 30 (24%) had a CS I or II disease and 92 (85%) CS III or IV. Awareness was assessed using a questionnaire on the sources on health information before the diagnosis of cancer.
Results: Only 56 (56%) of the patients reported to listen to the radio daily, 18 (15%) read magazines weekly, 44 (36%) read newspaper daily. Most patients indicated that they watch television on a daily basis (104 cases, 84.5%). There was no difference on television watching or newspaper reading between patients and relatives (p=0.723; p=0.444, respectively). On the other side, the relatives read weekly magazines more frequently (p<0.001). Few patients had ever sought information about health and only 46 (37%) had frequently discussed health problems with a relative or a friend.
Conclusion: these data suggest that mass media information have not been effective in increasing interest and awareness about cancer in high risk individuals who are likely to adopt preventive health behaviors and usually do not comply to screening programs.