Racial differences in the perception of lung cancer: the 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey.
BACKGROUND
Racial disparities in lung cancer have been described well in the literature; however, little is known about perceptions of lung cancer in the general population and whether these perceptions differ by race.


METHODS
Data were obtained from the 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) survey. The authors used a sample design of random digit dialing of listed telephone exchanges in the United States. Complete interviews were conducted with 5491 adults, including 1872 respondents who were assigned to receive questions pertaining to lung cancer. All analyses were conducted on this subset of respondents. A statistical software program was used to calculate chi-square tests and to perform logistic regression analyses that would model racial differences in perceptions of lung cancer. All estimates were weighted to be nationally representative of the US population; a jack-knife weighting method was used for parameter estimation.


RESULTS
Black patients and white patients shared many of the same beliefs about lung cancer mortality, and etiology. African Americans were more likely than whites 1) to agree that it is hard to follow recommendations about preventing lung cancer (odds ratio [OR], 2.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19-3.53), 2) to avoid an evaluation for lung cancer for fear that they have the disease (OR, 3.32; 95% CI, 1.84-5.98), and 3) to believe that patients with lung cancer would have pain or other symptoms before diagnosis (OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.27-3.79).


CONCLUSIONS
African Americans were more likely to hold beliefs about lung cancer that could interfere with prevention and treatment.
Lathan
Christopher S
CS
Division of Population Sciences, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. christopher_lathan@dfci.harvard.edu
Okechukwu
Cassandra
C
Drake
Bettina F
BF
Bennett
Gary G
GG
D001741:Black or African American; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People