Americans’ trust in cancer information from government agencies declines sharply
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Key takeaways:
- U.S. adults’ trust in cancer information from government agencies declined sharply since 2020.
- Researchers noted significant declines among men, young adults and Hispanic individuals.
The level of trust American adults have in cancer information from government health agencies declined significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to results of a cross-sectional study.
Researchers reported particularly sharp declines in trust among men, young adults and Hispanic individuals. Trust also declined among subgroups evaluated based on education, income and other factors.
“Trust is critical to the adoption of cancer health recommendations from these agencies,” Onyema G. Chido-Amajuoyi, MD, MPH, resident physician at Texas A&M College of Medicine and Christus Good Shepherd Hospital in Texas, and colleagues wrote. “In turn, the ability of federal health agencies to implement public health interventions effectively is dependent on public trust.”
Background and methods
Historically, the general population has had high trust in U.S. government health agencies even if overall trust in government has been low, according to study background.
One prior study based on data from 2005 to 2015 showed government health agencies were the second most trusted source of health information, behind only physicians.
However, more recent research has indicated trust may be declining.
One study showed only about one-third of people in the U.S. had high-level trust in the CDC or NIH. Another study showed at least 20% of adults had little or no trust in government health organizations for cancer-related information, researchers wrote.
Chido-Amajuoyi and colleagues used the U.S. Health Information National Trends Survey to evaluate changes in U.S. civilian adults’ trust in cancer information from government health agencies from 2020 to 2022.
The 2020 cohort consisted of 3,582 respondents (mean age, 47.8 years; 51% women; 64.8% non-Hispanic white, 16.4% Hispanic, 10.8%, non-Hispanic Black, 4.8% non-Hispanic Asian). The 2022 cohort consisted of 5,979 respondents (mean age, 48.4 years; 50.7% women; 61.7% non-Hispanic white, 16.5% Hispanic, 11% non-Hispanic Black, 5.6% non-Hispanic Asian).
Results and next steps
Overall, the percentage of U.S. adults who reported trust in government agencies that provide cancer information declined sharply from 2020 (77.8%; 95% CI, 75.4-80) to 2022 (70.1%; 95% CI, 68.1-72).
Researchers reported declines in trust among multiple subgroups broken down by sociodemographic characteristics. These included:
- Men: 77.7% in 2020 vs. 67.6% in 2022.
- Young adults (age 18 to 34 years): 82.7% in 2020 vs. 69.6% in 2022.
- Hispanic ethnicity: 82.2% in 2020 vs. 71.5% in 2022.
- Non-Hispanic white: 77.8% in 2020 vs. 70% in 2022.
- Urban residents: 78.2% in 2020 vs. 70.9% in 2022.
- Income between $10,000-$34,999: 77.7% in 2020 vs. 67.5% in 2022.
- Income of $75,000 or higher: 81.1% in 2020 vs. 71.6% in 2022.
- Individuals without a high school degree: 73.4% in 2020 vs. 64.6% in 2022.
- Individuals with some college education: 79.9% in 2020 vs. 68.5% in 2022.
Researchers noted several study limitations, including the cross-sectional design, the potential for low response bias, lack of long-term follow-up to see if levels of trust among individual respondents changed over time.
“Targeted interventions at the population-level that further understanding and address factors contributing to the decrease in trust in U.S. health agencies are essential,” Chido-Amajuoyi and colleagues wrote.
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