A Survey of the Awareness of Prostate Cancer and its Screening among Men Attending the Outpatient Clinics of a Tertiary Health Center in Lagos, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Nigerian men and the second most common cause of death from cancer in men worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the level of awareness of prostate cancer among men attending the various outpatients’ clinics of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Self-administered structured questionnaires were used to collect information from consecutives patients attending the various outpatient clinics of the hospital. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-six respondents with an age range of 40–80 years participated in this study. Sixty-nine (47.3%) respondents were aware of prostate cancer while 77 (52.7%) have never heard of the disease. Twenty (13.7%) participants were aware of the availability of a screening test for the disease and only 12 (8.2%) have had any form of screening for prostate cancer. CONCLUSION: There is a low level of awareness of prostate cancer among patients seen at our center and also level of voluntary screening for the disease is low.