(A594) Patient-Reported Information Gaps Regarding HPV-Mediated Oropharyngeal Cancer in a Rural State

Introduction: Kentucky has the highest incidence and mortality of HPV+OPSCC in the world, yet public awareness remains low. Prior work demonstrated high anxiety and significant knowledge gaps regarding HPV and cancer treatment, with information seeking behavior including internet searching. We aim to describe knowledge gaps regarding HPV+OPSCC, to inform public health messaging and educational material.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional telephone-based survey study. 192 patients diagnosed with HPV+OPSCC between 6/2021 – 12/2023 and treated at the NCI-Designated Markey Cancer Center in Lexington, KY were contacted and interviewed to elicit questions they had at diagnosis. 75 agreed and 43 completed the interview. Questions were based on a metropolitan study a decade ago.

Results: 44 HPV+OPSCC patients (37 male, 7 female) with an average age of 65.8 years completed the interview. Of 32 respondents, 24 were married. 11 had a high school diploma, and 19 had some college or higher. The most common knowledge gaps were what is HPV, what caused it, and treatment side effects. Medical professionals and printed info were rated the most helpful HPV information sources. Only 12% rated the internet as “very helpful”. 75% of patients recalled being told that their cancer could have caused by HPV and 68% believed it. 73% strongly agreed with anxiety about cancer but only 23% strongly agreed that they were anxious about their tumor being HPV-positive. Most did not have a strong inclination of where their HPV had come from. Around half felt that the long-term effects and emotional effects of cancer were explained to them.

Conclusions: Knowledge gaps persist among survivors. Compared with prior work, patients were more anxious about cancer and relatively less anxious about HPV diagnosis and transmission. Patients continue to heavily rate providers, but less positively rate the internet for questions. Patients feel that discussion of the emotional effects of cancer could be improved. These findings support interventions to generate public health messaging and educational material for patients with HPV+OPSCC.