Awareness Regarding Cervical Cancer And Pap Smear Test As A Screening Tool Among Married And Unmarried Females Of Karachi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51985/JBUMDC2019059Keywords:
Cervical Cancer, Pap smear, Prevention, Screening.Abstract
Objective: To determine the knowledge of risk factors of cervical cancer and Pap smear as screening tool in the prevention
of disease among married and unmarried females of Karachi
Study Design and Setting: It was a crossectional study conducted from April until September 2018, a total duration of
six months. Data has been collected from three different areas of Karachi.
Methodology: Non-probability convenient sampling techniques have been used to collect the data. Data collection was
carried out by an interviewer based structured questionnaire. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS V 24. Pearson’s
chi square used as statistical test.
Results: 400 respondents with a mean age of 32.1 +/- 1.1 years participated in the survey. 48.8% have heard about cervical
cancer reflecting suboptimal knowledge. Major source of information amongst the females were health care providers.
21.8% (n =87) of females considered HPV infection as a major risk factor followed by multiple sexual partners (17.3%,
n = 69) and early marriages (16.5%, n=66). Study showed 29.8% (n=119) of respondents have heard about Pap smear while
only 5% (n=20) of them had gone through this screening test.
Conclusion: The study revealed that knowledge regarding cervical cancer and Pap smear test is low among married and
unmarried females. Attitudes and practices were not promising as the cost of test procedure seen as the main constraint.
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Copyright (c) 2019 Warda Zanib, Shareaa Naz, Summaiya Munim, Hafsa Farhat, Alishba Solangi, Nadia Khalid
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