Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, Vol 8, 2007 155 Misconceptions about Cancers among Indian Patients Asian Pacific J Cancer Prev, 9, 155-158 Introduction It is estimated that around 11 million cancer cases occur globally each year. In fact, more than 12% of all deaths every year are caused by cancer. That's more than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria put together. In industrialized countries, cancer is the leading cause of premature mortality and similar trends are emerging in developing countries UICC/WHO (2005). Cancer has become one of the ten leading causes of death in India. It is estimated that there are nearly 2-2.5 million cancers at any given point of time. Over 0.7 million new cases and 0.3 million deaths occur annually due to cancer in India. Unfortunately, 75% to 80% patients present in advanced stages of the disease when it becomes difficult to treat (Govt. of India, 2007). Cultural beliefs affect both the risk factors for cancer as well as the meaning of the disease by establishing norms of behavior and providing guidance for its members to respond emotionally, cognitively, and socially to this disease. These beliefs mostly lead to delay in seeking medical treatment, thereby prolonging the interval between the first appearance of symptoms and the first visit to doctor. Thus, cultural beliefs and practices affect cancer care along the entire disease continuum: from prevention and early detection, treatment choices and adherence rates, management of side effects such as pain and its control, to appropriate psychosocial support, rehabilitation efforts, survivorship issues, hospice and 1 Department of Community Medicine, 2 Department of Oncology & Radiotherapy, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi 110002, India *For Correspondence: E mail: ravneet_rs@yahoo.co.in effective end of life care (Kagawa-Singer, 2000). Though it is evident that differences exist on many levels regarding different types of cancer, a general understanding of the mindset of cancer patients and the most basic myths affecting cancer in general is of utmost importance to the physician. It is with this intent that the investigators took up this study, conducted in one of the biggest government-run hospitals in Delhi, the capital city of India, which draws patients not only from Delhi, but also from other areas of Northern India. Materials and Methods The study was conducted among cancer patients attending the Out Patient Department (OPD) of Oncology and Radiotherapy of a teaching hospital of Delhi. A total of 95 patients were included in the study. A face-to-face interview was conducted using a pre-tested questionnaire containing 42 items. Information was obtained regarding beliefs, perceptions and myths about cancer among these patients and their outlook towards its treatment. Only new cancer patients were interviewed before their consultation with the oncologist in the OPD on the first 3 days of the week. This was done so that the patient’s views about his/her disease did not get altered. For the purpose of the study, a new patient implied a patient diagnosed within 1 month in any clinical specialty, with no history of previous malignancy or any suspicion of malignancy, which was investigated into. The patients RESEARCH COMMUNICATION Beliefs and Perceptions about Cancers among Patients Attending Radiotherapy OPD in Delhi, India Jugal Kishore 1 , Irfan Ahmad 1 , Ravneet Kaur 1 *, PK Mohanta 2 Abstract The prevalence of beliefs and myths amongst cancer patients is a reflection of the level of knowledge in the community regarding cancer. Such beliefs influence the health seeking behaviour of patients and may lead to delay in seeking medical care. The present study revealed that myths and misconceptions are widely prevalent among cancer patients in India. The perception regarding causation of cancer among cancer patients varied from curses, evil eye and spirits to past sins. Only one third of the patients believed that cancer can be detected in its early stages and that it can be cured. The average time taken by patients to report to a doctor after suspecting their disease was 2 years. The majority of patients held fatalistic views about the outcome of cancer. Most (60%) were being discriminated against by their family and society. All these findings highlight that despite considerable medical knowledge of risk factors and treatment modalities, possible social-behavioral strategies for the prevention and control of cancer have not been adequately addressed, especially among South Asian patients. Key Words: Cancer - beliefs - misconceptions - India