Abstract: Objective: To investigate the cognition, attitude and behavior about colorectal cancer and the screening of colorectal cancer and its relevant factors among first degree relatives of hereditary colorectal cancer patients in Guangzhou. Methods: Totally 274 subjects were investigated by a self-designed demographic questionnaire and the Chinese version of Cognitive Questionnaire for Colorectal Cancer and were analyzed by chisquare test and logistic regressive. Results: There were 165 cases (60.2%) had a high level of cognition about colorectal cancer, 65 cases (23.7%) had middle level of cognition about colorectal cancer and 44 cases (16.0%) had a low level of cognition about colorectal cancer. 144 cases (52.6%) had positive attitude about colorectal cancer screening. 63 cases (23.0%) had accept colorectal screening. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that colorectal cancer cognition, index patiemt's diagnosis, age, sex, marital status, medical insurance and suffering from chronic diseases were related to the factors of behavior about colorectal screening (P<0.05). Conclusion: The level of cognition about colorectal cancer among first degree relatives of hereditary colorectal cancer patients was a little high. However their screening rate of colorectal cancer was low. Medical staff should pay attention to relevant factors and develop targeted intervention to improve the level of cognition among first degree relatives of hereditary colorectal cancer patients and to promote their screening behavior.

Key words: hereditary colorectal cancer; first degree relatives; cognition; attitude; behavior; screening