Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran (MJIRI)

  Abstract

  Background: Screening is a necessity for country health systems. In undeveloped

  countries that have no screening programs, cervical carcinoma is one of the

  major causes of mortality and morbidity. Although cervical cancer is preventable

  it is poorly controlled in some countries. The main cause of it is unawareness of

  people from cervical cancer and screening methods.

  Methods: The target population consisted of a consecutive sample of 1002 female

  patients, 15-45 years old, visiting the city health care centers in Tehran for

  any reason between January 2006 and January 2007. We used a self-administered,

  written, anonymous, multiple choice questionnaire that was developed by

  the study authors. Statistical significance was defined as P<0.05.

  Results: The mean of age was 31.23 ± 4.3 years. Five-hundred and twentytwo

  cases (52.1%) had knowledge about Pap smear test. Only 230 cases (44.1%)

  knew the correct time of the first Pap smear that should be done in women. And

  408 cases (77.9%) knew Pap smear can detect cancer of the cervix. 364 cases

  (71.9%) had heard about cervical cancer, 314 cases (59.9%) had heard something

  about symptoms of cervical cancer.

  Conclusion: It is obvious that in Iran (and especially in Tehran), Pap smear

  awareness (52.1%) is statistically similar to other developing countries, and only

  45.9% had had at least one Pap smear test till the time of the interview. Thus, there

  is a need for an awareness campaign to increase the uptake of Pap smear testing.