• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권8호
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• pp.4163-4167
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• 2016

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common in Thailand, but the mortality rate may be rising yearly. It is a cancer that can be prevented by early screening for precancerous lesions, several methods being available. Objective: To identify the prevalence of abnormal Papanicolaou (Pap) smears and lesions with visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) in pregnant women and assess risk factors for this group. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was performed at Prapokklao Hospital, Thailand during April-July 2016. All pregnant women of gestational age between 12-36 weeks who attended an antenatal clinic were recruited. All participants were screened for cervical cancer by Pap smear and VIA. If results of one or both were abnormal, colposcopic examination was evaluated by gynecologic oncologist. Results: A total of 414 pregnant women were recruited. Prevalence of abnormal Pap smear and VIA were 6.0 and 6.7 percent, respectively. The most common abnormal Pap smear was low grade intraepithelial lesion (LSIL, 44%). Factors associated with abnormal Pap smear in pregnant women were low BMI, multiple partners and being a government officer. In pregnancy, Pap smear had higher sensitivity and specificity than VIA for detection of precancerous cervical lesion. Patients with young coitarche or more than 25 years of active sexual activity were high risk groups. Conclusions: Prevalence of abnormal Pap smear and VIA in pregnant women was 6.0 and 6.7 percent, respectively. Factors associated with abnormal Pap smear were coitarche, years of sexual activity, low BMI, multiple partners and being a government officer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권7호
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• pp.4313-4318
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• 2013

This study aimed to explore attitudes towards cervical cancer screening among Japanese university students who had never had a Pap smear. Four focus-group discussions, each with 15 female university students, took place in November and December 2009. Discussions were recorded and transcripts were analyzed to extract attitudes of young women towards cervical cancer screening. The four themes that emerged were: i) a low sense of reality about cervical cancer; ii) a lack of knowledge about both cervical cancer and Pap smears; iii) a lack of motivation to get screened, and iv) a reluctance to visit the gynecologist. Participants who were interested in undergoing screening for cervical cancer cited the influence of conversations with friends and family, a diagnosis of cancer within their family, and relevant information from the media. The results indicate the importance of getting young women more interested in cervical cancer screening and overcoming their tendency to avoid visiting a gynecologist.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권11호
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• pp.4825-4830
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• 2016

Background: In developed countries, awareness of cervical cancer screening is well documented. In contrast, in Oman as a developing country, public responses regarding cervical screening are unclear. This study aimed to assess the level of awareness about cervical cancer and Papanicolau (Pap) smear testing and to establish any correlations between knowledge and demographic factors among Omani women. Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, participants were divided into three groups: patients who attended the Outpatient Gynecology Department in Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), Oman, female staff from SQUH, College of Medicine and College of Nursing at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and graduating female students at SQU. Data collection was through interview-based and online self-administered questionnaires. Cumulative scoring was used for data analysis. Results: There were 204 outpatients, 133 staff and 157 students. Outpatients (79.4%), staff (97.7%) and students (75.2%) had heard of cervical cancer. Nevertheless, their specific knowledge, regarding signs and symptoms, risk factors and Pap smear, was low at 38.7%, 35.3% and 7.6% among outpatients, staff and students, respectively. Some 39.9% of the married outpatients had adequate overall knowledge as compared to none of the single women. Educational level was found to be significantly associated with outpatient knowledge with the highest awareness levels among postgraduates and medical university graduates (61.5%). Conclusion: Specific knowledge of cervical cancer, its risk factors and cervical Pap smear is generally poor among Omani women. This lack of knowledge may be one of the contributing factors for the high incidence of cervical cancer in Oman relative to that in developed countries.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권17호
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• pp.7235-7239
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• 2014

Cervical cancer, the third commonest cancer in women worldwide, can be prevented through early detection by cervical screening (Pap smear). The aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes and practice of cervical cancer screening among female undergraduate university students from 25 low, middle income and emerging economy countries. Using anonymous questionnaires, data were collected from 9,194 female undergraduate university students aged 18-26 years (mean age 20.9, SD=2.0) from 26 universities in 25 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Overall, 11.6% of the female students indicated that they had conducted one or more times a cervical (Pap) smear test; 8.3% among 18-20 year-olds and 15.6% among 21-26 year-old students. There was considerable country variation on having had a cervical (Pap) smear test among 21-26 year-old female university students, ranging from 59.2% in Colombia and 50.9% in Barbados to 0% in India and 1.0% in Tunesia. Logistic regression showed that cervical cancer screening importance or positive attitude were highly associated with the cervical screening practice. Moreover, risky sexual behaviour and tobacco use, two cervical cancer risk factors, were associated with screening. Cervical cancer screening practices were found to be inadequate and e fforts should be made to develop programmes that can increase the uptake of cervical cancer screening.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권10호
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• pp.4901-4903
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• 2012

To assess the awareness of cervical cancer among couples, data were collected from two urban slums community in Mumbai. A total of 1958 married women aged from 18 to 49 and their husbands were selected using simple random sampling. Women (37.7%) were significantly more aware of cervical cancer than husbands (8.7%). A slight agreement (kappa statistics=0.16) was observed between husbands and wives on awareness of cervical cancer. Significantly higher percentages of wives were aware of pap smear test than husbands. Overall, awareness of cervical cancer and pap smear test among couples is low. There is need to educate and motivate both of them to participate in cervical cancer screening program.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권13호
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• pp.5127-5131
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• 2014

Background: Cervical cancer is the ninth most common cancer among females in Turkey. Cervical smear is a routine screening test used for the detection of cervical abnormalities and also it detects certain infections of the cervix. Objective: To analyze cervical smear results of our clinic in order to determine most frequent pathology of the women in North Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Materials and Methods: In a retrospective study design, 8,495 cervical cytology cases diagnosed at the Pathology Department of the Regional Education and Research Hospital in Erzurum over the last one and half years extending from August 2012 to December 2013 were investigated. Results: The most common diagnosis was found to be inflammation, 65.5 % (5,566 out of 8,495), and the least was squamous epithelial abnormalities 0.2% (13 out of 8,495). There was some variation among the three pathologists regarding diagnosis but findings for the latter. Conclusions: Regular cervical smear tests are one of the most important strategies in early diagnosis of cervical cancer but there are conflicting data regarding the prevalence of epithelial cell abnormalities in Turkey, and the reasons o f this should be investigated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권10호
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• pp.5867-5870
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• 2013

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among Malaysian women with an ASR of 17.9 and a mortality rate of 5.6 per 100,000 population in 2008 (GLOBOCAN, 2008). The 5 year prevalence was estimated to be 14.5 per 100,000 population. As the second most common cancer affecting productive females, cervical cancer imposes an impact to the socioeconomic aspect of the country. However, the poor uptake of cervical cancer screening is a major problem in detecting early pre-cancerous lesions and thus, delay in initiating treatment for cervical cancer. Realizing the urgency to increase the uptake of PAP smear, besides enhancing the promotion of PAP smear screening for women above 35 years old, the call-recall system for pap smear screening had been piloted in one of the suburban districts which aimed to improve regular participation of women for cervical and breast cancer screening. This is of public health importance as identifying the best feasible option to increase patient's respond to participate in the screening program effectively in our setting will be helpful in implementing an organized regular population based screening program tailored to our setting. The pilot program of cervical cancer screening in Klang was an opportunity to assess different options in recalling patients for a repeat pap smear to increase their participation and adherence to the program. Methods and Results: This was a population based randomized control trial. Women aged 20-65 years in the population that matched the inclusion and exclusion criteria were re-called for a repeat smear. There are four different intervention groups; letter, registered letters, short messages services (SMS) and phone calls where 250 subjects were recruited into each group. Samples were generated randomly from the same population in Klang into four different groups. The first group received a recall letter for a repeat smear similar to the one that has been given during the first invitation. The intervention groups were either be given a registered letter, an SMS or a phone call to re-call them. The socio-demographic data of the patients who came for uptake were collected for further analysis. All the groups were followed up after 8 weeks to assess their compliance to the recall. Conclusions: The study will provide recommendations about the most effective methods for recall in a population based pap smear screening program on two outcomes: i) patients response; ii) uptake for repeat pap smear.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권15호
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• pp.6375-6379
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• 2015

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide, with about 500,000 new cases and 270,000 deaths each year. Globally, it is estimated that over one million women currently have cervical cancer, most of whom have not been diagnosed, or have no access to treatment that could cure them or prolong their lives. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women. Materials and Methods: A population-based cross-sectional retrospective survey of cervical smear abnormalities was conducted in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE, from January 2013 to December 2013 by collecting consecutive liquid-based cytology samples from the Department of Pathology at the SKMC Hospital in Abu Dhabi city. Results: The total number of women screened for cervical cancer for the year 2013 at SKMC was 4,593, with 225 (4.89%) abnormal smears. The majority of the abnormal smear results were atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) 114 (2.48%). This study showed 60% increase in the rate of abnormal cervical smears in the UAE over the last 10 years. In this study the highest incidence of high grade abnormalities were seen in women above the age of 61years (1.73%), this might be due to the fact that this group of women missed the chance of screening of cervical cancer earlier in their lives or could be explained by the well-known second peak of HPV infection seen in many prevalence studies. Conclusions: We conclude that the rate of abnormal cervical smear in the screened Abu Dhabi women is not different from the rate in developed countries. A notable increase in both low and high grade abnormalities has occurred within the last decade.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.849-852
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• 2013

Background: Cancer of the uterine cervix is one of the most common cancers among women worldwide. Industrialized countries have dramatically reduced the incidence of mortality from cervical carcinoma in the last 50 years through aggressive screening programs utilizing pelvic examinations and Papanicolaou (Pap) smears but it still remains a major problem in the developing world. Objectives: This study was performed to determine knowledge, attitude and practice of Pap smear as a screening procedure among nurses in a tertiary hospital in north eastern India. Material and Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out with a questionnaire survey covering the socio demographic factors, knowledge, attitude and practices about Pap smear screening among 224 nurses in Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur, India during December 2011. Results: Two hundred and twenty one participants (98.6%) had heard about cervical carcinoma but 18.3% lacked adequate knowledge regarding risk factors. Knowledge about the Pap smear was adequate in 88.8% of the respondents. Out of these, only 11.6% had Pap smear at least once previously. The most common reasons for non-participation in screening were lack of any symptoms (58.4%), lack of counselling (42.8%), physician does not request (29.9%) and fear of vaginal examination (20.5%). Conclusion: Although knowledge of Pap smear as a screening procedure for cervical cancer is high, practice is still low. The nurses who should be responsible for opportunistic screening of women they care for are not keen on getting screened themselves. If we can improve the practice of Pap smear screening in such experts, they should be able to readily provide appropriate and accurate information and motivate the general population to join screening programs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권9호
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• pp.5101-5105
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• 2013

The incidence and mortality of cervical cancer remains high in India even after sixty years of introduction of the Pap smear (cervical cytology) which is an effective means of identifying preinvasive lesions of carcinoma cervix. The morbidity and mortality due to cervical cancer has come down drastically in countries with well established screening programmes at national level. This study aims at screening women for cervical cancer opportunistically during their visit to hospital and to study various types of neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions of the cervix by cervical smear study (Pap smear study). In the present study, a total of 350 cervical smears were studied. The age of patients ranged from 19 years to 80 years with mean age being 37.5 years. Out of 350 cases, the diagnosis of neoplasia was given in 43 cases and 258 cases were diagnosed as inflammatory smears. Forty-cases were normal and 9 cases were inadequate to evaluate. Forty-three patients who were found to have neoplastic lesions on cytology were referred for further investigations like colposcopy and biopsy to confirm the diagnosis and avail proper treatment. Limitation of the present study was small sample size as all female patients aged between 20 and 60 years visiting hospital were not included in the screening, other screening tests like VIA (visual inspection with acetic acid test) and HPV DNA (human papilloma virus) tests were not done. Until the time centrally organised screening programmes for cervical cancer are established in India, arrangements should be made for hospital based opportunistic screening for all women attending hospital. The cost effectiveness of different screening tests for cervical cancer should be evaluated.