Awareness of human papilloma virus and cervical cancer prevention among Cypriot female healthcare workers

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer incidence varies around the world with the highest rates in Eastern Africa and the lowest rates in Western Asia. In Cyprus, a small Mediterranean island, cervical cancer incidence was 6.4 per 100,000 in 2013. HPV is an established risk factor for cervical cancer with HPV-16 and HPV-18 being the most common carcinogenic strains. Cervical cancer is preventable through primary (HPV vaccination) and secondary (Pap and HPV tests) prevention. These prevention methods should be promoted, however, in order to design a cancer prevention programme and the awareness and characteristics of populations should be investigated so that prevention programmes can be targeted specifically to them. Methods: In this work, we sought to investigate awareness of HPV and cervical cancer prevention among female healthcare workers in Cyprus. To achieve this, we conducted a 60-item survey among 200 healthcare professionals in randomly selected hospitals in two different cities within Cyprus. Results: Our results revealed that nearly 10% of our participants reported not ever having had a Pap test. 88.5% of the healthcare workers knew about HPV and 86.5% reported that HPV is transmitted through sexual intercourse. 83.5% of the participants were willing to vaccinate themselves for cervical cancer prevention. Conclusion: Even though awareness and vaccination acceptance were relatively high, they are still not optimal for healthcare professionals who play an essential role in health promotion. We suggest the design of educational programmes to target this population and improve their knowledge so that they can promote cervical cancer prevention in their health practice.

Factors influencing healthcare professionals’ confidence in vaccination in Europe: a literature review

“… 44 Finally, while 34.9% of nurses not vaccinated against HPV in Turkey stated not being at risk of HPV, 45 70%-83.5% of HCPs from Greece and Cyprus stated they would accept HPV vaccination to protect themselves against HPV infection or cervical cancer. 46 , 47 …”

“…Confidence in HPV vaccine effectiveness was high among Italian HCPs (83.5–92.6%). 81 , 82 However, doubts about the effectiveness of HPV vaccination and the prevention of cervical cancer were raised by 25% of HCPs in Turkey , 73 16.7–23.5% of GPs in France , 75 , 83 14.28% of HCPs who would refuse the vaccine in Cyprus , 46 and 65.7% of HCPs from Spain . 52 Such doubts were also provided as a reason for doubting or not recommending HPV vaccination by 2.3–5.3% of HCPs in Turkey 72 and by HCPs in the UK , 84 Greece 85 and France .…”

“…While 25% of HCPs in Turkey perceived HPV vaccines as unnecessary because of side effects, 73 only 5% of HCPs in Spain believed the HPV vaccine was unsafe 52 and 89% of HCPs in Italy considered the vaccine to be safe and well-tolerated. 81 Yet, 7.4% of nurses in Turkey , 45 55.12% of HCPs in Cyprus 46 and 53.8–69.4% of HCPs in Greece 47 stated refusing HPV vaccination for themselves or their children because of concerns about side effects and 2.3–9.6% of HCPs in Turkey 72 and 21.1% of gynecologists in Germany 63 reported not recommending the vaccine for similar reasons.…”

Effective Prevention of High-Risk Cervical Cancer Among Women in Developing Countries: A Case-Study in Nigeria

“…According to a study conducted among health workers in Cyprus (a developed country), statistical analysis revealed that the population under the investigation had good knowledge about HPV. Thus, 88.5% of 200 women indicated to have good knowledge about HPV (Christodoulou et al, 2019). In contrast, another study conducted in Gondar town, Ethiopia (a developing country), revealed that >80% of 770 women indicated not to have any knowledge about HPV as one of the germane risk factors of CC (Mengesha et al, 2020).…”

The Value and Clinical Significance of Tumor Marker Detection in Cervical Cancer

“…Different screening methods and technologies make up more than half of the patients in the middle and advanced stages when they visit the clinic in different regions. e cure rate is relatively high for early cervical cancer [2,4,5]. erefore, it is important to search for the cause and early diagnosis of cervical cancer and find new therapeutic targets.…”