Knowledge and Perception of Prostate Cancer Screening among Male Employees of a Private University in Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: The burden of prostate cancer has steadily increased over the years. Patients in developed countries present with the disease early but contrastingly, men in developing countries present late leading to higher mortality in these countries. This variation in presentation is essentially because of differences in screening for the disease which usually depends on knowledge and perception of screening among men. This study assessed the knowledge and screening of prostate cancer screening among men in a tertiary institution in Nigeria. Methods: The study employs a descriptive cross-sectional study of 211 men who were selected using a convenience sampling method. Data was collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Knowledge of prostate cancer was graded as adequate or inadequate while perception was categorised as good or poor both using mean scores. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 22 and presented as tables. P< 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The mean age of participants was 55.90±7.80 years and most of them (98.6%) had tertiary education as the highest level of education. About three-fifths (58.8%) of the respondents had adequate knowledge while 41.2% had inadequate knowledge about prostate cancer screening. More than half (53.1%) of the respondents had a good perception of prostate cancer screening while 46.9% had a poor perception. The occupation had statistically significant associations with the perception of participants of prostate cancer screening. Conclusion: Knowledge and perception were good among participants who were mostly educated. Occupation was also significantly associated with perception. Educated men may be deployed as peer educators for prostate cancer.