Currently accepted at: JMIR Cancer
Date Submitted: Oct 23, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Oct 23, 2025 - Dec 18, 2025
Date Accepted: Feb 5, 2026
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
This paper has been accepted and is currently in production.
It will appear shortly on 10.2196/86390
The final accepted version (not copyedited yet) is in this tab.
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Knowledge of lung cancer signs and symptoms, risk factors and screening in the Jordan: A nationwide population study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Background:
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and in Jordan. This is mainly because many cases are diagnosed at a late stage. People generally have low awareness of lung cancer symptoms, risk factors, and screening methods. This lack of knowledge may lead to delays in diagnosis and worse outcomes.
Objective:
To assess the awareness of lung cancer symptoms, risk factors, and screening among the Jordanian population and to identify predictors of knowledge and willingness to undergo screening.
Methods:
A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2024 and September 2025 using an online self-administered questionnaire distributed via social media platforms. The questionnaire, adapted from validated tools, evaluated participants’ awareness of lung cancer symptoms, risk factors, and screening practices. A total of 498 adult Jordanians participated. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, and multivariate regression analyses were used to assess associations between demographic variables and awareness levels.
Results:
The overall awareness of lung cancer risk factors was moderate (mean score: 33.0 ± 5.6 out of 45), while awareness of symptoms was notably lower (mean score: 5.4 ± 4.9 out of 14). Total knowledge score averaged 38.4 ± 8.4 out of 59. Awareness was significantly higher among younger participants (<35 years), and nonsmokers (p < 0.05). Smoking status was a strong negative predictor of awareness. However, knowing someone diagnosed with lung cancer was linked to higher awareness levels. Gender, education, and place of residence did not have a significant impact on knowledge levels.
Conclusions:
Lung cancer awareness among Jordanian adults is suboptimal, especially in recognizing symptoms and non-tobacco risk factors. Smokers and older adults showed less awareness, but those with personal exposure to lung cancer had better knowledge. These findings highlight the need for focused public health efforts, improved education campaigns, and combining awareness initiatives with tobacco control and national screening programs to promote early detection and improve outcomes in Jordan.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.