Obstet Gynecol 2000;96:653–6 The purpose of this article was to determine what high‐school‐age adolescents know about HPV infection. A total of 523 inner‐city high school students completed a written survey that contained questions regarding HPV, STDs, and Pap smear screening. Over 87% of the study population claimed they had not heard of HPV. These students had considerably more knowledge about all other STDs. The students stated that school classes and media sources were their prime methods of gaining information concerning STDs. Interestingly, only 27% of the students completing this survey stated they had ever been involved in sexual activity, a markedly lower percentage than would of been expected. Comment: While there seems to be some questions surrounding either the appropriateness of this sample or the validity of the answers since only 27% of those students surveyed admitted to current or past sexual activity, the fact that few of these adolescents knew anything about HPV infection is disturbing. It continues to surprise me when reports such as these appear in the literature, as it appears that women (and men) of all ages know little about HPV despite multiple articles in very high‐profile media sources. (KLN)
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