{"id":37451,"date":"2023-07-14T11:30:41","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T11:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=26251"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:12:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:12:26","slug":"new-tool-to-tackle-gaps-in-publics-knowledge-of-blood-cancer-symptoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/new-tool-to-tackle-gaps-in-publics-knowledge-of-blood-cancer-symptoms\/","title":{"rendered":"New tool to tackle gaps in public\u2019s knowledge of blood cancer symptoms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Blood cancer<\/span><\/a> is the UK\u2019s fifth most common cancer, with about 250,000 people living with a type of blood cancer in the UK.<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

However, many people are diagnosed late, and <\/span>emergency presentation<\/span><\/a> is a common route to diagnosis. Researchers suggest this may be due to a lack of awareness of blood cancer symptoms, which are often vague and non-specific.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, to change this, researchers from the University of Surrey and Queen Mary University of London have <\/span>developed the Blood Cancer Awareness Measure (Blood CAM) tool<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The tool is being seen as a \u201csignificant step\u201d towards identifying and increasing the public\u2019s knowledge of blood cancer. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

The power to save lives<\/h2>\n

The Blood CAM \u2013 which works as <\/span>an online questionnaire<\/span><\/a> \u2013 has been designed to quantify public knowledge of symptoms of blood cancer, including <\/span>leukaemia<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>lymphoma<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>myeloma.<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

Rincy George, Policy Officer at Blood Cancer UK, said: \u201cThis new tool is a significant step towards understanding the gaps in public awareness of blood cancer symptoms.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy identifying these knowledge gaps, it can help shape impactful awareness campaigns that have the potential to save lives.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

He warns \u201ctimely diagnosis is crucial for those facing a blood cancer diagnosis.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

A lack of knowledge<\/h2>\n

When researchers put the tool to use, they found that nearly 70% of people were not aware that night sweats are a symptom of blood cancer and 56% did not recognise rashes\/itchy skin as an indicator of the disease.  <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Unexplained weight loss (70%) and unexplained bleeding (65%) were the most recognised symptoms of blood cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Men had lower knowledge of blood cancer symptoms than women, who were twice as likely to recognise bruising as a sign of the disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of continued work into blood cancer, the research team also investigated the role of patient enablement for those experiencing potential blood cancer symptoms. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Patient enablement is defined as a patient\u2019s ability to understand and cope with illness and life after a consultation with a doctor.  <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

When surveying 434 people, researchers found that 52% had experienced at least one potential blood cancer symptom. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Following a series of questions to determine levels of patient enablement, researchers were surprised to find that those who scored highly on patient enablement were less likely to <\/span>seek help<\/span><\/a> from their GP for potential blood cancer symptoms. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

However, enablement was important for re-consultation behaviour (e.g. when symptoms didn\u2019t go away), which is vital when experiencing blood cancer symptoms.   <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Pr<\/span>ofessor Katriina Whitaker, Lead for Cancer Care at the University of Surrey, said: \u201cTools such as these are vital to help improve earlier diagnosis of cancer. Assessing public awareness of cancer symptoms helps us identify knowledge gaps within the population and recommend remedies.\u201d<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSpotting cancer at an early stage saves lives. However, for blood cancer, symptoms are less known, and people often attribute them to other ailments, slowing down the diagnosis process.\u201d<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blood cancer is the UK\u2019s fifth most common cancer, with about 250,000 people living with a type of blood cancer in the UK.   However, many people are diagnosed late, and emergency presentation is a common route to diagnosis. Researchers suggest this may be due to a lack of awareness of blood cancer symptoms, which are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42889,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37451\/revisions\/42889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}