Discordance between perceived and actual cancer stage among cancer patients in Korea: a nationwide survey.

PURPOSE: We assessed the accuracy of communication between doctors and patients by evaluating the consistency between patient perception of cancer stage and the medical records, and analyzed the most influential factors of incongruence among cancer patients at 10 cancer centers across Korea. METHODS: Information was gathered from cancer patients at the National Cancer Center and nine regional cancer centers located in every province of Korea between 1 July 2008 and 31 August 2008. Data were analyzed using Pearson's χ2 test and multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The stages of cancer reported by the 1,854 patients showed a low degree of congruence with the stages given in medical records (k = 0.35, P