Cancer misinformation and trust in doctors and scientists among cancer survivors.

Abstract

11124 Background: Health misinformation is a significant public health concern and has acutely worsened in the past decade. Cancer survivors must navigate a complex health system after a critical diagnosis and may be particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of misinformation. This study explores information perception and trust between survivors and those without (w/o) a cancer history. Methods: Data from the nationally representative Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) from 2017-2022 was used to compare questions regarding cancer and health information and trust (grouped Strongly/Somewhat Agree and Disagree) between those with a prior cancer diagnosis (survivors) and those w/o cancer. Demographic data included: age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, employment, and household income. Analysis was done in STATA with Chi-squared and T-tests testing between survivors and those w/o cancer; multivariate analysis (MVA) focused on survivors. Results: 21,753 people were included, 3,479 (16.0%) were cancer survivors. Survivors were demographically different than those w/o cancer including being older (median 68 vs 56), less likely employed (22.5 vs 40.5%), more commonly White (80.2 vs 69.3%) and less often Black race (12.7 vs 18.4%) (p<001 for all). More people w/o cancer had used the internet in the past year to look for medical information (73.6% vs 70.4% in survivors), however when searching for cancer information specifically, less survivors (49.8% vs 55.7% w/o cancer) were concerned about the quality of the information (p=0.001 both). More survivors trusted information about cancer from a doctor (77.6% survivors vs 72.3% w/o cancer, p=0.02). But less people overall trusted scientists about cancer information (52.1% survivors, 57.2% w/o cancer, p=NS) with 1 in 20 people trusting scientists “not at all” (5.1% survivors, 5.2% w/o cancer, p=NS). More than half felt that health recommendations from experts seemed to conflict/contradict one another (58.1% survivors, 56.3% w/o cancer, p=NS). In an MVA of survivors, only age was associated with being concerned about the quality of cancer information online with younger survivors being less concerned [OR 0.98, 95%CI 0.96-0.99, p<0.001]. Conclusions: In this national study, researching health information online was common and roughly half were concerned about the quality of cancer information they found. Compared to those w/o a cancer history, cancer survivors were less concerned about their ability to find high quality cancer information with younger survivors feeling the most confident. While most people trusted doctors, more than half said that experts seemed to contradict each other and 1 in 20 had no trust in scientists to provide cancer information. Future interventions should focus on health information literacy and improving communication on evidence-based cancer information.