Do Cancer Patients Prefer to Know the Diagnosis? A Descriptive Study Among Iranian Patients

BACKGROUND: There are important differences regarding cancer disclosure in various geographical populations (Europeans, Western Asia, Eastern Asia), depending on multiple sociocultural factors, and therefore, there is no standard protocol on this issue, especially in Iran. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the amount of information that Iranian patients have and their preference for the disclosure of the cancer diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this cross sectional descriptive research, patients admitted in the oncology departments of 3 referral medical centers, Imam Hussein, Shohada-e-Tajrish and Modarres, in Tehran, from March 2007 to April 2008, were questioned about their awareness and knowledge regarding their diagnosis. Two different structured questionnaires were designed for the people who know and who didn't know their diagnosis. For the former, the survey concerned their psychological reactions to their situations, whether they would prefer to know about their diagnosis and by whom they are preferred to be informed .For the latter, the questionnaire included their preference whether to know the diagnosis and their current emotional state. Descriptive statistics and chi square test was applied to analyze gathering Data, using SPSS version 14. RESULTS: 60.3% of the patients knew their diagnosis. Among the subjects who did not know their diagnosis, 88% preferred to be more informed about their diagnosis and 68% had some psychological reaction to their situations. Among the subjects who knew their diagnosis, 92.1 % preferred to know their diagnosis, 73.6% preferred to be informed directly by their physicians. Following the diagnostic disclosure, 81.5% reported that they had felt nervous, anxious and worried. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of Iranian patients with malignancy want to know the truth and they prefer to be informed directly by their doctors.