Cancer-related information sought by the general public: evidence from the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service, 2002-2003.
BACKGROUND
We examined the main topics of inquiry (Subjects of Interaction-SOI) of calls made by the general public to the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service's (CIS) 1-800-4-CANCER telephone information service.


METHODS
We analyzed data from 37,620 callers to the CIS between September 2002 and August 2003. We conducted frequencies, chi-squares, and logistic regressions to ascertain sample characteristics and sociodemographic correlates of each SOI. Results. We found differences in discussion of the 7 main SOI by age, sex, ethnicity, race, and education.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings inform the CIS' and other organizations' efforts to develop and disseminate cancer information.
Finney Rutten
Lila J
LJ
Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch, Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Science, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD, USA. finneyl@mail.nih.gov
Squiers
Linda
L
Hesse
Bradford
B
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D009369:Neoplasms; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States