Awareness and knowledge of HPV, cervical cancer, and vaccines in young women after first delivery in São Paulo, Brazil - a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundThe success of HPV vaccination programs will require awareness regarding HPV associated diseases and the benefits of HPV vaccination for the general population. The aim of this study was to assess the level of awareness and knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, cervical cancer prevention, vaccines, and factors associated with HPV awareness among young women after birth of the first child.MethodsThis analysis is part of a cross-sectional study carried out at Hospital Maternidade Leonor Mendes de Barros, a large public maternity hospital in Sao Paulo. Primiparous women (15-24 years) who gave birth in that maternity hospital were included. A questionnaire that included questions concerning knowledge of HPV, cervical cancer, and vaccines was applied. To estimate the association of HPV awareness with selected factors, prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated using a generalized linear model (GLM).ResultsThree hundred and one primiparous women were included; 37% of them reported that they "had ever heard about HPV", but only 19% and 7%, respectively, knew that HPV is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and that it can cause cervical cancer. Seventy-four percent of interviewees mentioned the preventive character of vaccines and all participants affirmed that they would accept HPV vaccination after delivery. In the multivariate analysis, only increasing age (P for trend = 0.021) and previous STI (P < 0.001) were factors independently associated with HPV awareness ("had ever heard about HPV").ConclusionsThis survey indicated that knowledge about the association between HPV and cervical cancer among primiparous young women is low. Therefore, these young low-income primiparous women could benefit greatly from educational interventions to encourage primary and secondary cervical cancer prevention programs.

Determining the Knowledge of Women and Their Attitudes Regarding Gynecological Cancer Prevention

“…As for the study of Donders et al (2009), while the women who indicate HPV as a reason for cervical cancer and know that for being protected it is important to be vaccinated was 50% in 2007, in 2008 it has reached to 80%. On the other hand, in different studies it has been determined that the level of women knowledge on the relation between HPV and cervical cancer is poor (Gil Rama et al, 2010;Paolini ve Arrossi, 2011). The symptoms of Gynecological cancer, show differences according to the organ affected by the cancer.…”

“…scanning tests being unnecessary, women do not take the advantage of early diagnosis (Abothchie ve Shokar, 2009;Al Sairafi, 2009;Lockwood-Rayermann et al, 2009;Nakalevu, 2009;Şahin, 2009;Ali et al, 2010;Fallowfield et al, 2010;Gil et al, 2010;Jones et al, 2010;Phongsavan et al, 2010;Rama et al, 2010;Chigbu and Aniebue, 2011;Cooper et al, 2011;Hawkins et al, 2011;Kebede, 2011;Mbamara et al, 2011;Minchew, 2011;Paolino and Arossi, 2011;Trivers et al, 2011).…”

Determinants of women¿s likelihood of vaginal self-sampling for human papillomavirus to screen for cervical cancer in Taiwan: a cross-sectional study

“…In addition, two prerequisites for making an informed decision about HPV vaccination are awareness of HPV (having heard of HPV) and knowledge of HPV [16]. The uptake of cervical screening services was influenced by knowledge of cervical cancer [17,18], previous Pap testing [11], educational level [3,11], and household income l [19], but was not associated with marital status [20]. Furthermore, barriers to Pap testing such as the issues of time [20,21], cost [5,18], and clinical site [21] might be barriers to women's likelihood of self-sampling for HPV.…”

Birinci Basamağa Başvuran Doğurganlık Çağındaki Kadınların Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) ve HPV Aşısı Hakkındaki Bilgi Düzeyleri

“…In two studies conducted in Turkey, HPV awareness was found 21.3% and 24.1% respectively 5,17 . On the other hand, this rate in the studies abroad was between the values 8% and 93% 6,15,16,18,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] . When the countries were checked where the studies were conducted, in developed countries in terms of socio-economical aspects, high awareness rate was clearly observed, which had community based-screening programme and where vaccination was at high rates.…”

“…In the current study, level of knowledge, frequency of gynecologic examination, the place where health care service was offered and to be registered for pap-smear significantly affected the percentage of HPV awareness (p<0.05). In a study, it was observed that level of education, to go to medical centres and to be registered for papsmear had positive effects on this situation 15,22,23 .…”