Knowledge and awareness among Iranian women regarding the pap smear

  Abstract   Background: Screening is a necessity for country health systems. In undeveloped   countries that have no screening programs, cervical carcinoma is one of the   major causes of mortality and morbidity. Although cervical cancer is preventable   it is poorly controlled in some countries. The main cause of it is unawareness of   people from cervical cancer and screening methods.   Methods: The target population consisted of a consecutive sample of 1002 female   patients, 15-45 years old, visiting the city health care centers in Tehran for   any reason between January 2006 and January 2007. We used a self-administered,   written, anonymous, multiple choice questionnaire that was developed by   the study authors. Statistical significance was defined as P<0.05.   Results: The mean of age was 31.23 ± 4.3 years. Five-hundred and twentytwo   cases (52.1%) had knowledge about Pap smear test. Only 230 cases (44.1%)   knew the correct time of the first Pap smear that should be done in women. And   408 cases (77.9%) knew Pap smear can detect cancer of the cervix. 364 cases   (71.9%) had heard about cervical cancer, 314 cases (59.9%) had heard something   about symptoms of cervical cancer.   Conclusion: It is obvious that in Iran (and especially in Tehran), Pap smear   awareness (52.1%) is statistically similar to other developing countries, and only   45.9% had had at least one Pap smear test till the time of the interview. Thus, there   is a need for an awareness campaign to increase the uptake of Pap smear testing.