Cancer chemoprevention: factors influencing attitudes towards chemopreventive agents in high-risk populations.

Information comparing attitudes towards taking cancer chemopreventive agents and assessing drug characteristics that would make chemopreventive agents more acceptable to participants is essential for future trial design and to ultimately promote compliance. We therefore undertook a cross-sectional questionnaire study, the aim of which was to assess current attitudes towards chemopreventive agents and to determine which characteristics make chemopreventive agents more acceptable to potential target populations. Questionnaires were distributed to four groups of participants: university students, cancer patients, partners/spouses of patients with cancer and individuals at a high familial risk for cancer. The survey's overall response rate was 35.5% (350 participants). The majority of participants (92.9%) considered taking cancer chemopreventive agents. Factors that positively influenced participants towards chemoprevention were a family history of cancer and having children. Diet-derived chemopreventive agents were preferred by 74.6%, who associated these agents with being 'healthier' and having a better side-effect profile. Most participants preferred either two medium-sized capsules or four small capsules daily. Overall, participants were keen to consider chemoprevention, particularly in cases in which cancer risk was high, and preferred diet-derived agents, believing them to have minimal side-effects.