Assessment of women's knowledge about cytology as a prophylactic method in cervical cancer

Standyło Arkadiusz, Obuchowska Aleksandra, Wójcik Justyna, Ozga Alicja, Obuchowska Karolina. Assessment of women's knowledge about cytology as a prophylactic method in cervical cancer. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2020;10(9):835-845. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2020.10.09.101 https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2020.10.09.101 https://zenodo.org/record/4054278 The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. § 8. 2) and § 12. 1. 2) 22.02.2019. © The Authors 2020; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 21.09.2020. Revised: 27.09.2020. Accepted: 28.09.2020. Assessment of women's knowledge about cytology as a prophylactic method in cervical cancer Arkadiusz Standyło1a, Aleksandra Obuchowska1b, Justyna Wójcik1c, Alicja Ozga1d, Karolina Obuchowska1e 1 Student's Scientific Association at the Chair and Department of Perinatology and Obstetrics, Medical University of Lublin, Jaczewskiego Street 8, 20-954 Lublin, Poland aa.standylo@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5154-4759 baobuchowska12@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0464-2695 cjustynawojcik455@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7163-6784 daozga1@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1291-905X e karolinaobuchowska99@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4519-8236 Corresponding author Arkadiusz Standyło Student's Scientific Association at the Chair and Department of Perinatology and Obstetrics, Medical University of Lublin, Jaczewskiego Street 8, 20-954 Lublin, Poland e-mail: a.standylo@gmail.com Abstract Introduction Cervical cancer (CC) is currently the eight most common cancer among women and the seventh leading cause of cancer-related death in women in Poland. Early, non-invasive cervical cancer may develop over the years without clinical symptoms. Also, given the fact that early forms are treatable effectively, it's important to get preventive examinations. It is especially important in the group of women at high risk of developing CC. Purpose The aim of the study was to analyse the opinions of 1,260 women on the cytology as a prophylactic method in cervical cancer. Material and methods Women's knowledge was verified with an anonymous online questionnaire. The obtained results were analysed and checked on the basis of scientific literature. Results The vast majority of respondents (89,6%) consider Pap smear test as a screening test for CC. According to 40.4% of women, the first test should take place after sexual initiation. 17.7% believed that the examination should be done after the first menstruation. 55% of the respondents answered that Pap smear test should be performed every year. 38.4% believed that the test should be performed every 3 year. 20.3% of respondents do not know when to take the first Pap smear test and 30.1% of the respondents had never performed a pap smear. Conclusions Most women know the importance of regular cytology, but unfortunately not all women relate this knowledge to themselves. Early, regular and continuous education of women on the prevention of cervical cancer is extremely important Key words: Cytology; Pap smear test; cervical cancer