Knowledge, awareness and prevention of cervical cancer among women attending a rural based tertiary care centre, Theni, South India

Abstract

Original Research ArticleKnowledge, awareness and prevention of cervical cancer among women attending a rural based tertiary care centre, Theni, South India Shanthadevi Sambath*, Madhumitha Chandrasekaran INTRODUCTIONCervical cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. In India, it is one the leading causes of mortality among women accounting for 23.3% of all cancer deaths. 1 India accounts for about 20% of cervical cancer cases reported from the world. More than threefourth of these patients are diagnosed in advanced stages leading to poor prospects of long term survival and cure. 2 Early detection of cervical cancer is possible with various screening tests. The proportion of women who undergo Pap smear testing ranges from 68% to 84% in developed countries as compared to India where the rates range from 2.6% to 6.9% among women in communities. 3 It has been found that in many developed countries the annual incidence and prevalence of cervical cancer has decreased by 50%-70% after introduction of population based screening.2 So if women in India undergo screening for cervical cancer, it is possible to detect the cancer in early stages thereby reducing mortality and morbidity.India has national programme for the prevention of NonCommunicable Diseases (NCD) which includes screening for cancer cervix for all women between 30 and 60 years. The screening method followed under this programme is Visual Inspection after Acetic acid/Visual Inspection after Lugal's Iodine (VIA/VILI) followed by colposcopy in positive cases. Screening would be broadly influenced by knowledge about cervical cancer, its screening methods among women, role of health care providers who come in contact with women in hospitals, facilities available and the awareness of facilities. ABSTRACTBackground: Cervical carcinoma is the most common genital cancer in India and a leading cause of cancerassociated deaths. Cervical cancer is both preventable and curable, yet morbidity and mortality from the disease remain high especially in developing countries. Request for cervical cancer screening is exceedingly low among women due to lack of awareness of cervical cancer and the screening methods Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in 200 women attending Gynaecology OPD in Government Theni Medical College Hospital, Tamil Nadu. We studied the knowledge, awareness, and attitude of patients, about cervical cancer and the screening methods in a tertiary institution. They were interviewed with predesigned questionnaire after getting informed consent. Results: Of the 200 patients surveyed, 74 (37%) had heard of cervical cancer, while 44 (22%) knew about screening, with health care providers being their most frequent source of information. Only 26 (13%) women ever had screening done and no one is aware of HPV vaccine. Conclusions: Adequate health information and counselling on cervical cancer and regular screening still need to be emphasized in developing countries so as to reverse the morbidity and mortality associated with cervical cancer. Samb...

Knowledge, awareness and practice of cervical cancer screening among ever married rural women of Ganjam District, Odisha: a community based cross-sectional study

“…16 In present study, only 20.4% ever received counselling about cervical screening which is very similar to findings by Kumar H et al 21 In the present study, only 14.6% ever had a screening test for cervical cancer in their life time. This finding is very similar to that by Nelson SB et al, Sambath S et al, and Elamurugan S et al 16,17,20…”

“…In present study even though 70.7% had heard cervical cancer only 32.5% were aware of cervical cancer screening which is very similar to findings by Nelson SB et al, in Tamil Nadu (30.9%), Sambath S et al, in Theni (22%) and Dahiya N et al, in New Delhi (23.3%). [16][17][18] In contrast, Aswathy S et al, in Kerala and Elamurugan S et al 19,20 found more than 70% of their participants knew about cervical cancer screening. In the present study only 19.3% had the knowledge of Pap test availability near their locality which was also observed by Kumar H et al, in Mangalore.…”

“…Afraid of doing test, embarrassment about undergoing tests, refusal of partners, thinking that it is only required for existing cancer were also some reasons for it. Lack of knowledge and thinking that tests not needed unless symptoms appeared as a reason are also reported by other studies.17- 22 Sambath S et al, found fear of procedure was one of the reason for it whereas Aswathy S et al, reported financial reason as one of the reason 17,19. Nelson SB et al, Aswathy S et al, Siddharthar J et al, and Thovarayi S et al, found education was significantly associated with good knowledge of cervical cancer screening and education had a great impact on taking the tests 16,19,22,23.…”

A cross sectional study on cervical cancer and its prevention among women of age group 25- 50 years in a rural area of south Tamilnadu, India.

“…This was far better than the 0.5% reported by Bathija et al in Urban slums of Hubli, Karnataka and 0% reported in Theni, Tamil Nadu by Sambath and Chandrasekaran. 14,15 This difference might be explained by the better literacy rate. Both these studies had more than 30% illiterate while our study did not have any illiterates.…”

Awareness and practices of cervical cancer screening among women in Rajnandgaon district, central India: health education is the need of the hour

“…This could be probably explained by the differences in the education status, social behavior, media exposure and health facilities available among the study population. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] When asked about cervical cancer screening, only 8.1% were aware of Pap smear test. This was slightly better than the awareness about screening reported (6.5%) by study done in Lucknow.…”