27 percent of smokers are unaware of the risk of cancer

A majority of Austrians are aware of the importance of regular check-ups for early cancer detection, but younger people in particular could be better motivated to do so electronically. This emerges from an IMAS survey commissioned by MSD Austria, which also revealed an astonishing attitude towards the cancer risk of smokers: only 58 percent of the over 1,000 participants said yes.

• Also read: 15 percent more cancer patients are expected in Austria by 2030 than in 2022

“Worrying and alarming”

However, 23 percent of those surveyed aged 16 and over said that smoking did not pose such a risk, a further 15 percent chose the answer that it depends on the dose, and five percent said “no answer”. Around half of the people surveyed said that they did not smoke, and 27 percent of this group said that there was no increased risk of cancer due to smoking.

• Also read: Quitting smoking reduces mortality by more than half

Julia Fuchs, cancer expert at the pharmaceutical company MSD, described this result as worrying and alarming when the survey results were presented in Vienna on Monday. Overall, the IMAS data would reveal the connection between awareness of the problem and the level of information, as well as the population’s desire to be better informed about cancer prevention options.

Second most common form of the disease

The Linz expert Bernd Lamprecht from the Pulmonary Medicine Clinic at the Kepler University Hospital recalled that the smoking rate in Austria is above the OECD average and that cigarettes are the main factor for the around 5,000 new cases of lung cancer every year. “In women, lung cancer is the second most common form of the disease after breast cancer and in men after prostate cancer. And it has an unfavorable prognosis because early detection is not possible.” Often, at the time of diagnosis, there is already metastasis formation and therefore an advanced stage.

For Lamprecht, there are two approaches to reducing the numbers: on the one hand, motivating young people not to start using this risk factor in the first place and on the one hand, supporting people in giving up smoking. On the other hand, it is also important to improve the early detection rate. Such a program is still missing in Austria, but Lamprecht referred to the results of the so-called Nelson study, which shows the effect of preventive CT examinations on smokers aged 50 and over. After ten years, lung cancer mortality among those examined was 24 percent lower than in a comparison group without screening. “It’s now a matter of implementing the results.”

Why early detection is so important

Philipp Jost, head of the Clinical Department of Oncology at MedUni Graz, agreed with the previous speaker. In principle, early detection of cancer would enable the removal of a tumor without metastasis. However, the population needs more information about what makes early detection possible, namely curable therapy for a large number of tumor diseases. The IMAS study shows that increased health literacy could give many potential patients additional years of life.

• Article on the topic: Stronger together: All hospitals in the country in the fight against cancer

According to Paul Eiselsberg from IMAS, a key way to encourage people to have a preventive examination would be to get them to do so with a reminder in the form of an SMS or email: “It is important for the population to have such an anchor .” Two fifths of the younger respondents expressed the desire for an invitation letter with the option of making an appointment, added Fuchs. “In total, a quarter stated that they had never taken part in a single cancer screening,” Fuchs continued – and they wanted to draw attention to this.

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