Health behaviors, knowledge, screening, and attitudes toward colorectal cancer among Iraqi adults.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the Iraqi population's health behaviors, knowledge, screening, attitudes toward colorectal cancer (CRC), and possible predictors that may affect their knowledge level.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Sample: One thousand three hundred sixty-one Iraqi adults from Sulaymaniyah/Iraq.

Measurements: The odds ratio (OR) was used to find the association between knowledge of CRC and associated factors.

Results: Among participants, 6.1% had a colonoscopy, 4.0% had a sigmoidoscopy, and 60.8% heard CRC screening. Participants had low knowledge level of CRC risk factors (5.52 ± 1.39), and symptoms (3.73 ± 1.16) and had a medium knowledge of screening (4.35 ± 1.02). Respondents who retired (OR = 1.30; p = .00) and who had graduated from university (OR = 0.86; p = .01) had a high knowledge of CRC, while those who were aged 70 and above (OR = -1.08; p = .00) had a low knowledge of CRC. Furthermore, it was found that Iraqi adults who answered "no idea" to questions related to attitude and who answered incorrectly questions related to risk factors were likely to have low knowledge (p = .00).

Conclusions: We found a lack of knowledge, screening, and misconceptions about CRC and screening among Iraqi adults. Thus, health training and screening programs should target Iraqi populations.