Knowledge and Attitudes of Junior Medical Doctors towards Gastric Cancer

Introduction: Gastric cancer (GC) has considerable morbidity and mortality in Singapore. As doctors play an important part in persuading patients to undergo screening, and as screening may have an important role in diagnosing early GC, we sought to determine the knowledge and attitudes of doctors towards GC and GC screening. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to a cohort of junior doctors in Singapore General Hospital. Results: There were a total of 104 respondents; 82.5% of respondents felt that GC is common in Singapore. While most risk factors (RF) were identified correctly, knowledge of dietary RF was deficient, with only 34.3% and 36.5% realising that a high salt diet and low vegetable/fruit intake were RF, respectively. 95.1% knew that GC can be asymptomatic, but if detected early, is potentially curable (97.1%). Majority of respondents felt that GC was best diagnosed by endoscopy and the best time to diagnose it was when asymptomatic. However, only 52% of the respondents felt that screening gastroscopy was worthwhile. For those willing to pay for screening gastroscopy, the mean cost they were willing to pay was S$243. Conclusion: Our results show that while most RF of GC are well recognised, knowledge of dietary factors is deficient. There is ambivalence towards screening gastroscopy despite knowing that GC is common in Singapore and can be asymptomatic. This may be a barrier to tackling the problem of GC in Singapore. Before we recommend any GC screening programmes in the future, it may be important to optimise knowledge and change the mindsets of doctors in Singapore towards GC.