Systematic Review: Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Cancer Screening Program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Cancer is the second most frequent cause of death worldwide after ischemic heart disease. Early detection of cancer is a cornerstone of cancer survival. The aim of this review is to summarize the current knowledge, awareness, attitude, and practice of cancer screening programs in Saudi Arabia. A literature review was conducted using PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar to identify which cancer screening programs have been studied in Saudi from 2015 to 2019. The search was done using the key terms with Boolean operators “Cancer, Tumor, Saudi, Screening, Knowledge, Awareness, Attitude, Practice, Breast, Colorectal, Cervical, Prostate, Head and Neck.” Twenty-three articles were included. There were eight articles about the screening of Colorectal Cancer (CRC), eight articles about the screening of Breast Cancer (BC), five articles for Cervical Cancer (CC) screening, one article for the screening of prostate cancer, and one for the screening of head and neck cancer. All the included studies reported poor awareness levels about the cancer screening program (CRC screening: 19.1%), and (BC screening: 25%). However, the awareness level of CC screening was the highest among them (52.5%). Majority of the population had never done or had been advised by a healthcare provider to perform the screening test before. All types of cancer showed a low level of practicing cancer screening programs, ranging from 10% to 15%. Several studies demonstrated that most of the Saudi population had never been screened for cancer. There is a need for population-based interventions to fill the gap of knowledge and practice of cancer screening in Saudi Arabia.