Abstract: Objective To understand the cognition of esophageal cancer and dietary preference of residents in areas with high incidence of esophageal cancer in Chengdu. Methods A simple random sampling method was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on residents of Qingbaijiang District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. The content included the basic conditions of the subjects, esophageal cancer related knowledge and dietary preferences. Results A total of 486 residents aged 20 and over in Qingbaijiang District, Chengdu City were surveyed, including 257 males （52.88%） and 229 females （47.12%）. Of the participants, 51.03% were aged 40-59, 39.92% had the education level at primary school or below, 52.67% were married, 37.86% had the per capita monthly household income of 4 000-7 999 Yuan, 48.56% lived in towns and 51.44%, in villages. The awareness rate of esophageal cancer knowledge was 60.91% （296/486）. There were significant differences in the awareness rate of esophageal cancer among different ages, education levels, and urban and rural subjects （P<0.05 or P<0.01）. The highest rate of accuracy （61.73%） was knowing that the local area with high incidence of esophageal cancer. Of the 486 residents, 202 （41.56%） preferred hard food, 253 （52.06%） preferred salty food, 190 （39.34%） preferred hot food, and 238 （48.97%） preferred eating fast. The higher the education level, the lower the proportion of persons who liked eating hard food, eating salty food, eating hot food, and eating fast. The proportions of rural residents who liked hard food, salty food, and hot food were higher than those of urban residents （P<0.05 or P<0.01）. Conclusion The residents in areas with high incidence of esophageal cancer have a low level of knowledge about esophageal cancer, and the problem of unhealthy eating habits is more prominent, especially in rural area.

Key words: Esophageal cancer, Eating habits, Cognitive level, High incidence area