Types of cancers diagnosed and the preference of families of adult patients with cancer about disclosing diagnosis to the patients

Abstract

Background: Cancer has become one of the top causes of death in developing nations killing more people than the common infectious diseases do. For several reasons, disclosing cancer diagnosis to the patient is a challenging job for physicians and family members.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was done to determine the common cancer diagnosis and the preference about disclosing cancer diagnosis to the patients among attendants of adult cancer patients seen at the regular surgical OPD of St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical college (SPHMMC) in June 1-31st 2015. Medical records of the patients and face-to-face interview with attendants were used to generate the data and analysis was done with SPSS version 19.0.

Results: A total 112(7.3%) patients were diagnosed to have cancer and 104 attendants (93%) were interviewed. The mean age of the patients was 48.2 years, Females made up 59% of the patients. The commonest cancer diagnosed was breast cancer. Male (62.7%) and children (36.1%) were the main attendants. Only 56.6% of the attendants agreed that patients should be the first to know diagnosis results. When possible, 84.3% preferred to hide diagnosis. Although 81.3% attendants did not like diagnosis disclosure to the patient, all of them wanted to know the diagnosis if they develop cancer. Nearly all, 98.8%, of the attendants preferred to hear the diagnosis from their doctors.

Conclusions: Cancer is a relatively common diagnosis occurring at a younger age. The rate of cancer diagnosis disclosure acceptance and practice by attendants was low. Population-based and multicentre study with a larger sample size is recommended to define the condition better

Keywords: Cancer, disclosure, reason