Cervical Cancer Screening Using Exfoliative Cytology (PAP Smear) in Uttar Pradesh: Awareness, Acceptability, and Achievability

Introduction: Timely detection of preinvasive lesions of the cervix by a structured cervical screening program can decrease the incidence of cervical cancer dramatically.Despite this, the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) ranks 7th in incidence and 9th in mortality due to cervical cancer in India.The present study aims to find out the level of awareness, acceptability, and achievability of cervical screening by Papanicolaou (PAP) smear tests among women of Lucknow district.Materials and methods: This was a mixed-method, cross-sectional study conducted at Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital (ELMCH) over 18 months.A semistructured, prevalidated questionnaire was used to assess the awareness of cervical cancer and screening methodologies.The subjects were then offered screening by PAP smear.The acceptability and achievability of the procedure were calculated.Results: A total of 485 women were recruited to the study, and 313 women underwent the PAP smear screening.178 (56.86%) smears were found inflammatory, and 9 cases had premalignant lesions (8 cases of low-grade and 1 case of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion). Conclusion:The awareness of cervical cancer and screening was only 10.7%.A single session of counseling and focused group discussion increased acceptability to 83.5% but the overall achievability remained low at 64.5%.