Awareness Regarding Cervical Cancer And Pap Smear Test As A Screening Tool Among Married And Unmarried Females Of Karachi

Abstract

Objective: To determine the knowledge of risk factors of cervical cancer and Pap smear as screening tool in the prevention of disease among married and unmarried females of Karachi Study Design and Setting: It was a crossectional study conducted from April until September 2018, a total duration of six months. Data has been collected from three different areas of Karachi. Methodology: Non-probability convenient sampling techniques have been used to collect the data. Data collection was carried out by an interviewer based structured questionnaire. Data was entered and analysed using SPSS V 24. Pearson’s chi square used as statistical test. Results: 400 respondents with a mean age of 32.1 +/- 1.1 years participated in the survey. 48.8% have heard about cervical cancer reflecting suboptimal knowledge. Major source of information amongst the females were health care providers. 21.8% (n =87) of females considered HPV infection as a major risk factor followed by multiple sexual partners (17.3%, n = 69) and early marriages (16.5%, n=66). Study showed 29.8% (n=119) of respondents have heard about Pap smear while only 5% (n=20) of them had gone through this screening test. Conclusion: The study revealed that knowledge regarding cervical cancer and Pap smear test is low among married and unmarried females. Attitudes and practices were not promising as the cost of test procedure seen as the main constraint