Saliva as a diagnostic frontier: Assessing healthcare students’ readiness for salivary biomarkers in early cancer detection

Abstract

Background Salivaomics represents a novel diagnostic domain that provides a non-invasive and accessible alternative to conventional cancer detection techniques. Saliva encompasses a diverse array of indicators, such as microRNAs, cytokines, and proteins, indicative of both systemic and oral health. Notwithstanding the increasing data endorsing its clinical efficacy, salivary diagnostics are still underutilised, mostly owing to insufficient knowledge among prospective healthcare practitioners. Objective This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) of healthcare students in Saudi Arabia regarding the use of salivary biomarkers for early cancer detection, and to identify factors influencing their willingness to integrate such diagnostics into the curriculum. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using a structured, self-administered questionnaire distributed among 221 students from medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and nursing programs. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests/ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and logistic regression. Results Overall, 68.8% of students had heard of salivary biomarkers, though only 42.1% could correctly identify specific biomarkers. Attitudes toward saliva-based diagnostics were overwhelmingly positive, with mean scores above 4.0 on key items such as test feasibility and willingness to recommend their use. Key barriers included lack of curricular integration (68.78%) and concerns about test accuracy (53.39%). Significant associations were found between knowledge levels and willingness to incorporate the topic into academic programs (p = 0.017). Logistic regression identified predictors of willingness, including higher knowledge scores, female gender, older age, internship status, and enrollment in medicine or pharmacy. Conclusion Healthcare students showed a positive attitude toward saliva-based cancer diagnostics but demonstrated notable knowledge gaps, particularly in biomarker identification and diagnostic validity. These findings support integrating salivaomics into healthcare curricula, alongside faculty development and targeted training, to improve readiness for clinical adoption.”