Dhivya B, Balakrishnan P. R
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Cervical cancer is the most common preventable cancer noted in Indian women, having a major impact on their lives. Approximately, 70% of people reside in villages in India. Hence, the objectives of this study were to find the knowledge of women regarding cervical cancer, to determine attitude and practices towards screening. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Primary Health Centre, Periapodu, Tamil Nadu, India between January 2015 and May 2015 where 1670 participants between the ages of 21-65 years were randomly chosen by selecting every 3rd woman attending the PHC for any reason. After exclusion, 1200 participants were included in the study. RESULTS: Mean age of the study population was 45.3 years. An awareness of 75.42% was noted for cervical cancer, 43.25% for Human Papillomavirus and 32.42% that it was vaccine preventable, the major source of information being Healthcare Providers (70%). Despite 50.58% thinking that they were at risk of cervical cancer, only 31% had undergone a pap smear. However, 69.96% of the unscreened population were ready to undergo screening. Independent predictors for doing Pap test included age >35, higher parity, literacy and adequate knowledge of cervical cancer screening (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study shows a low level of knowledge, attitude and practice on cervical cancer among women in rural India. Increasing women’s awareness would be a first step in the long chain of conditions to attain a lower incidence and mortality.
