Women's Knowledge Of Human Papilloma-virous (hpv) And Their Attitudes Toward Hpv Vaccine

There have been quite substantial declines in cervical cancer morbidity and mortality, However, cervical cancer still remains to be the second common female cancer, which added great concerns on women's health and financial burden. With the establishment of the role of high-risk types of HPV in the etiology of the majority of cervical cancers, the development of HPV vaccine, and its readily detectable and treatable precursor stage, cervical cancer becomes one of few preventable cancers. However, satisfactory control of cervical cancer could be achieved only by combining screening with vaccination. It highly relies on women's excellent compliance, which is usually besed on women's knowledge of HPV.Objective:To explore women's knowledge of HPV and their attitudes toward HPV vaccine in Zhejiang Province, China.Study design:A total of 1432 healthy women (782 in urban area and 650 in rural area) who attended Check-up Clinics or Education Centres were enrolled into the study. Methods:A face to face interview was conducted using a structured questionnaire.Results:Awareness of HPV and its vaccine were low. Only 39.1% in urban area and 27.1 % in rural area had ever heard of HPV while 23.7% and 15.1% had heard of HPV vaccine respectively; Of those who had heard of HPV,50.1% in urban area and 41.2% in rural area declared that they first became aware of it through media. Newspaper were the most common source (27.3%) for urban women while TV programme were the most common source for rural women(13.1%);The mean score of HPV knowledge was 3.75(SD=2.39) in urban area and 3.18 (SD=2.17)in rural area. The overall score of HPV knowledge in urban area was significantly higher than that in rural area (t=2.409, p=0.016). History of cervical screening, education, age and monthly income were significantly associated with HPV knowledge in urban area (F=15.12, r=0.26,0.22,-0.18,0.13,P<0.05) while history of cervical screening, age and monthly income were significantly associated with HPV knowledge in rural area (F=8.61,r=0.33,-0.23,0.21, P<0.05). Of the sample who had heard of HPV vaccine, the supportive mean score was 2.59 (SD=1.52) in urban area and 2.11 (SD=1.85) in rural area. Significant difference existed in two groups (t=2.996,p=0.003). Women with greater HPV knowledge were more likely to support HPV vaccination (t=7.88, r=0.50,p＜0.001 in urban area; t=7.55, r=0.61,p<0.001 in rural area)).Conclusions:Inadequate knowledge and misconceptions on HPV were common, especially for those living in rural area in China. Attitudes toward HPV vaccine were not satisfactory. Education campaigns targeting at different populations and appropriate knowledge transfer were needed prior to introduction of HPV vaccine.Education should focus on the relationship between HPV and cervical cancer, the transmission mode of HPV, the mechanism of available HPV vaccine, the safety and effectivity of HPV vaccine, and the importance of cervical cancer screening for vaccinted and non-vaccinated individual.