Distrust of Medicine Linked to Delayed Care and Weaker Cancer Screening Attitudes

Adults who seek care at a family health center in eastern Türkiye reported a clear pattern: the more they mistrusted medicine and distrusted the health system, the more they procrastinated in seeking healthcare and the less favorable their attitudes toward cancer screening. That is the central finding of a new cross-sectional study published in BMC Health Services Research. The research team, led by Mehmet Uçar with Muhammet Faruk Yiğit and Mehmet Kaplan, surveyed 568 adults attending primary care services.

Because the study was descriptive and cross-sectional, it captures associations at a single point in time rather than proving that distrust causes delayed care. The researchers analyzed the data with Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression to test how the two trust measures related to delay behavior and screening attitudes. Medical mistrust and health system distrust were positively associated with healthcare delay behavior, meaning higher distrust went hand in hand with more procrastination about seeking care.

The same variables were negatively associated with cancer screening attitudes, so participants with greater distrust held less positive views of preventive screening (p < 0.001). Medical mistrust stood out as the strongest independent predictor in the regression models. Its standardized coefficient was β = 0.59 for healthcare delay behavior and β = −0.79 for cancer screening attitudes, indicating a particularly strong inverse relationship with favorable screening attitudes.

The authors conclude that trust in healthcare is closely tied to how people use services and how they feel about preventive health. They suggest the associations point to the potential relevance of trust-centered strategies, improved access, and patient-centered service delivery in primary care settings. The study's scope matters when interpreting the results.

All participants were adults attending a single family health center in eastern Türkiye, so the findings describe one primary care population and cannot be generalized to other regions or countries without further research. As an observational, cross-sectional design, the study also cannot establish causality or temporality. It remains possible that people who delay care become more distrustful, or that unmeasured factors influence both trust and health behavior.

The self-reported scales measure attitudes and tendencies rather than verified screening uptake or clinical outcomes. If confirmed in longitudinal and interventional studies, trust-centered approaches in primary care could become a practical target for improving preventive health engagement.

Subject of Research: Associations of medical mistrust and health system distrust with healthcare delay and cancer screening attitudes among primary care attendees in Türkiye

Article Title: Medical mistrust, health system distrust, and their associations with healthcare delay and cancer screening attitudes in primary care

Article References: Uçar, M., Yi̇ği̇t, M. F., & Kaplan, M. (2026). Medical mistrust, health system distrust, and their associations with healthcare delay and cancer screening attitudes in primary care. BMC Health Services Research, 26(1), Article 1312. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-15484-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-15484-0

Keywords: medical mistrust, health system distrust, primary care, healthcare delay, cancer screening, cross-sectional study, Türkiye, preventive health, patient attitudes, health services research, Medical, mistrust