[An investigation of prostate cancer knowledge among Chinese city men].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the knowledge and the attitude toward prostate cancer (PCa) among Chinese city men and raise some suggestions for the improvement of the present state.


METHODS
In October 2007, a questionnaire investigation was conducted among males in 17 Chinese cities on the knowledge of PCa in the following 6 aspects: general state of PCa susceptible city men, basic knowledge, risk factors, symptoms, management and outcome, and attitude toward the treatment of PCa. The influences of education on their scores were analyzed and compared.


RESULTS
We distributed 1,700 copies of the questionnaire and collected 376 (22.1%) valid ones. The subjects averaged 67.1 +/- 10.1 years of age, 80.1% with junior high school education and above. As for the basic knowledge of PCa, 92.6% of them admitted hearing of it, but only 45.5% knew what it was, with statistically significant differences among men of different educations. The most common accesses to PCa knowledge were media (43.3%), hospital consultation (25.2%) and health booklets (10.1%). Of the total number of subjects, 32.7% regarded "Father has prostate cancer" as a risk factor, 82.2% knew that PCa could be treated by surgery, but only 8.9% knew that " hormonotherapy has an important role in PCa treatment". More positive attitudes toward PCa treatment and its consequence were found among those with higher education.


CONCLUSIONS
PCa susceptible men in Chinese cities have insufficient knowledge on the disease. Strengthened education in this aspect can improve the present state and promote early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Zhu
Gang
G
Department of Urology, Beijing Hospital, Ministry of Health, Beijing 100730, China.
Wang
Xin
X
Yan
Wei
W
Wang
Jian-Long
JL
Wan
Ben
B