Cervical Cancer Awareness and Screening Attitudes Among Women Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh

BackgroundCervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality among women worldwide, particularly in low-and middle-income countries.Although cervical cancer can be prevented through early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions, inadequate awareness and unfavourable attitudes towards screening continue to hinder effective prevention efforts. ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess cervical cancer awareness and screening attitude among women attending the Gynaecology Outpatient Department of a tertiary care hospital. MethodsA hospital-based cross-sectional study included 346 women aged 30-60 years attending the Gynaecology Outpatient Department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.Sociodemographic characteristics and whether participants had heard of cervical cancer were assessed among all 346 women.Detailed cervical cancer awareness and screening-attitude analyses were restricted to the 303 respondents (87.6%) who had heard of cervical cancer.Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire.Associations between the four-category awareness outcome and categorical sociodemographic variables were examined using the Fisher-Freeman-Halton exact test.Associations involving the binary screening-attitude outcome were examined using Pearson's chi-square or Fisher's exact test, as appropriate.Continuous age and monthly income were compared between attitude groups using independent-samples Welch t-tests.All tests were two-sided, with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant. ResultsThe mean age of the 346 participants was 38.3 ± 6.3 years.Overall, 303 of 346 women (87.6%) had heard of cervical cancer.Among these 303 women, 129 (42.6%) identified unusual vaginal bleeding as a symptom, 86 (28.4%) identified human papillomavirus (HPV) infection as a risk factor, 100 (33.0%) were aware of precancerous cervical lesions, and 216 (71.3%) knew that cervical cancer could be detected through screening.Poor awareness of symptoms and risk factors was observed in 174 (57.4%) and 173 (57.1%), respectively.Sufficient screening attitudes were observed in 86 (28.4%) women, whereas 217 (71.6%) had insufficient attitudes.Age was associated with awareness level (Fisher-Freeman-Halton exact test, p = 0.048), whereas occupation was not (p = 0.295).No sociodemographic characteristic was significantly associated with the screening-attitude category. ConclusionsAlthough most respondents had heard of cervical cancer, important gaps remained in their awareness of risk factors, screening methods, HPV infection, and precancerous lesions.Attitudes towards cervical cancer screening were also classified as insufficient in most respondents.