Examining Liver Cancer Patients and a High-Risk Group in a Vulnerable Area: An Experience from the Ulleung Liver Cancer Prevention and Management Project

Dong-Hee Ryu, Yu-Mi Lee, Ji Mi Park, Won Young Tak and Nam-Soo Hong
Additional contact information
Dong-Hee Ryu: Department of Preventive Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Daegu 42472, Korea
Yu-Mi Lee: Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, Korea
Ji Mi Park: Department of Preventive Medicine, Regional Cancer Center, Kyungpook National University Medical Center, Daegu 41404, Korea
Won Young Tak: Department of Internal Medicine, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu 41944, Korea
Nam-Soo Hong: Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41944, Korea

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-12

Abstract: Ulleung county is a small island on the eastern side of the Korean peninsula. The Ulleung Liver Cancer Prevention and Management Project was launched in order to minimize newly developing liver cancer within this region. Population-based regional cancer registry data were analyzed to investigate the status and characteristics of registered liver cancer patients. The Interagency Workgroup of the project provided a special screening program from 1 November to 3 November 2018, and from 23 April to 25 April 2019, undertaking liver cancer screening and health behavior surveys. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with recent liver cancer screening. In Ulleung county, hepatocellular carcinoma was identified as the main type of liver cancer, accompanied by a high incidence of hepatitis B. Approximately 25.0% of the participants were not aware of their liver condition. People who were aware of their liver condition and those who reported a general understanding of hepatitis B were more likely to have undergone recent liver cancer screening. To prevent the development and spread of the disease in the community, adequate infrastructure for cancer screening and an enhanced monitoring system are required, along with measures to create awareness to periodically determine liver condition in high-risk groups.

Keywords: awareness; early detection of cancer; health behavior; liver neoplasm; residence characteristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/7757/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/21/7757/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:21:p:7757-:d:433726

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().