Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding HPV and Vaccination Among Chinese Women Aged 20 to 35 Years in Fujian Province

Abstract

The use of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was recently approved in Mainland China. This study determined the knowledge and attitudes of young women aged 20 to 35 years in Fujian Province, China, with regard to HPV and vaccination and explored the potential factors influencing their attitudes toward HPV vaccination. This was a cross-sectional study that collected data regarding the knowledge on and attitudes toward HPV and vaccination using questionnaires. Furthermore, the prevalence of HPV was determined from the sampled participants. A total of 1001 young women were included in the survey. This study demonstrated that the HPV prevalence rate was 15.7% (157/1001). Among all patients, 44.9% (n = 449) had heard of HPV; however, detailed knowledge about HPV was lacking. The majority (83.7%) expressed a willingness to be vaccinated. Specifically, knowledge of the dangers of HPV infection was significantly associated with the willingness to be vaccinated. In this study, women cited some concerns and expressed high expectations for the HPV vaccine, but the costs of vaccination reduced their willingness to be vaccinated. This study found that most patients did not have a detailed knowledge of HPV. Thus, there is a need for continued HPV promotion and education efforts, especially on the dangers of HPV infection, among young women aged 20 to 35 years in Fujian Province, China. Furthermore, it is important to subsidize the costs of vaccination for promoting vaccination campaigns in China.

Awareness and attitude towards human papillomavirus and its vaccine among females with and without daughter(s) who participated in cervical cancer screening in Shenzhen, China

“…A low introductory price for the vaccine may help in making the vaccine affordable and acceptable to Chinese women through government programmes. The associated factors affecting women's willingness to be vaccinated themselves which we detected in our study corroborate recent surveys of the same type [18,19,21,27]. Besides age, residency status, education level, marital status, income, HPV awareness, and specific knowledge of HPV and its vaccine, having daughter(s) is an important factor.…”

“…The acceptability of HPV vaccination in our study was slightly higher than that reported in western China [19], whereas data from several multicentre or large-sample survey among the Chinese general female population suggest a higher acceptability(nearly or over 80%) [17,18,21]. The most common arguments against vaccination in our study included worries about the safety of the vaccine and considering HPV vaccination not being widely accepted, which both call for further education efforts.…”

“…Data from developed countries show a relatively higher awareness of HPV (87.7% in the USA, 61.6% in the UK and 71.8% in Australia) and HPV vaccine (91.8% in the USA, 80.7% in the UK and 81.3% in Australia) . Specific knowledge is generally poor, even among women who are aware of HPV and its vaccine in our and previous studies . Knowledge gaps exist regarding the risk of HPV leading to cervical cancer, prevention of cervical cancer by HPV vaccination and the optimal vaccination time, indicating a superficial understanding for HPV among females, and that more detailed health education is needed.…”

Awareness of Cervical Cancer and Attitude Toward Human Papillomavirus and Its Vaccine Among Ghanaians

“…Among the 1,376 participants involved in this survey, 1,240 participants (90.1%) representing 456 males (33.1%) and 784 females (57.0%) were aware of the terminology "cervical cancer." When stratified by gender, women had significantly greater knowledge, compared to men in terms of "cervical cancer being common in middle age (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50) females" (75.5 vs. 67.5%, respectively, p ≤ 0.001). These participants were examined further to test their knowledge on some risk factors and symptoms of cervical cancer, as presented in Tables 2-4.…”

Knowledge towards human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and attitude towards its vaccine in the Kingdom of Bahrain: cross-sectional study

“…However, most studies indicated that people by in large are in favour of using the vaccine 8 14 16 17. The positive attitude towards vaccination in some studies was observed to be driven by the fear of contracting HPV infection, cervical cancer and genital warts 18 19. Age and sexual activity were also noticed to be determining factors for parents agreeing to vaccinate their children 19.…”