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Cervical Cancer Awareness and Its Risk Factors Amongst Female Undergraduate Students of Rivers State University

Received: 5 April 2020    Accepted: 26 April 2020    Published: 31 December 2020
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Abstract

Cervical cancer has been associated with a high mortality rate among women in low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria. Adequate knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer among women is essential for the control and prevention of deaths related to cervical cancer. A cross sectional study of the awareness of cervical cancer and associated risk factors was carried out in 253 students in Rivers state. The results showed that only 27 (11.5%) have good knowledge of pap smear, 3 (1.6%) indicated that they had done a pap smear and the findings were negative. Seventy-three (35.6%) respondents were sexually active, with most of the respondents (74%) that were sexually active reportedly had their first sexual experience between the 15 – 20 years. The last sexual exposure was mostly within a year (64.4%) among the respondents. Many of the respondents (88.2%) reported having one sexual partner. Only 20.9% indicated that they were in a relationship and 73.5% of those in relationship admitted to using one form of contraception. The most commonly used contraceptive was a condom (7.2%), followed by pills (6.4%) among the sexually active students. Most of the respondents (40.6%) indicated using contraceptive just once. The relationship of cervical cancer awareness and the demographic profile of the respondents were not statically associated or significant by age, faculty, level of study, marital status or education. However, level of knowledge of pap smear was statistically associated with current relationship status (p=0.007), having given birth (0.036) and smoking habits (p<0.01) among the respondents.

Published in Radiation Science and Technology (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.rst.20200604.11
Page(s) 32-38
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Cervical Cancer, Pap Smear, Risk Factors, Awareness, Risk, Undergraduates

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Tamuno-Opubo Abiye, Stanley Rosemary Oluchi, Ezeugwu Sampson Ibekwe, Chimenem Simple Tamuno-Opubo. (2020). Cervical Cancer Awareness and Its Risk Factors Amongst Female Undergraduate Students of Rivers State University. Radiation Science and Technology, 6(4), 32-38. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20200604.11

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    ACS Style

    Tamuno-Opubo Abiye; Stanley Rosemary Oluchi; Ezeugwu Sampson Ibekwe; Chimenem Simple Tamuno-Opubo. Cervical Cancer Awareness and Its Risk Factors Amongst Female Undergraduate Students of Rivers State University. Radiat. Sci. Technol. 2020, 6(4), 32-38. doi: 10.11648/j.rst.20200604.11

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    AMA Style

    Tamuno-Opubo Abiye, Stanley Rosemary Oluchi, Ezeugwu Sampson Ibekwe, Chimenem Simple Tamuno-Opubo. Cervical Cancer Awareness and Its Risk Factors Amongst Female Undergraduate Students of Rivers State University. Radiat Sci Technol. 2020;6(4):32-38. doi: 10.11648/j.rst.20200604.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.rst.20200604.11,
      author = {Tamuno-Opubo Abiye and Stanley Rosemary Oluchi and Ezeugwu Sampson Ibekwe and Chimenem Simple Tamuno-Opubo},
      title = {Cervical Cancer Awareness and Its Risk Factors Amongst Female Undergraduate Students of Rivers State University},
      journal = {Radiation Science and Technology},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {32-38},
      doi = {10.11648/j.rst.20200604.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20200604.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.rst.20200604.11},
      abstract = {Cervical cancer has been associated with a high mortality rate among women in low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria. Adequate knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer among women is essential for the control and prevention of deaths related to cervical cancer. A cross sectional study of the awareness of cervical cancer and associated risk factors was carried out in 253 students in Rivers state. The results showed that only 27 (11.5%) have good knowledge of pap smear, 3 (1.6%) indicated that they had done a pap smear and the findings were negative. Seventy-three (35.6%) respondents were sexually active, with most of the respondents (74%) that were sexually active reportedly had their first sexual experience between the 15 – 20 years. The last sexual exposure was mostly within a year (64.4%) among the respondents. Many of the respondents (88.2%) reported having one sexual partner. Only 20.9% indicated that they were in a relationship and 73.5% of those in relationship admitted to using one form of contraception. The most commonly used contraceptive was a condom (7.2%), followed by pills (6.4%) among the sexually active students. Most of the respondents (40.6%) indicated using contraceptive just once. The relationship of cervical cancer awareness and the demographic profile of the respondents were not statically associated or significant by age, faculty, level of study, marital status or education. However, level of knowledge of pap smear was statistically associated with current relationship status (p=0.007), having given birth (0.036) and smoking habits (p<0.01) among the respondents.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Cervical Cancer Awareness and Its Risk Factors Amongst Female Undergraduate Students of Rivers State University
    AU  - Tamuno-Opubo Abiye
    AU  - Stanley Rosemary Oluchi
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    AB  - Cervical cancer has been associated with a high mortality rate among women in low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria. Adequate knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer among women is essential for the control and prevention of deaths related to cervical cancer. A cross sectional study of the awareness of cervical cancer and associated risk factors was carried out in 253 students in Rivers state. The results showed that only 27 (11.5%) have good knowledge of pap smear, 3 (1.6%) indicated that they had done a pap smear and the findings were negative. Seventy-three (35.6%) respondents were sexually active, with most of the respondents (74%) that were sexually active reportedly had their first sexual experience between the 15 – 20 years. The last sexual exposure was mostly within a year (64.4%) among the respondents. Many of the respondents (88.2%) reported having one sexual partner. Only 20.9% indicated that they were in a relationship and 73.5% of those in relationship admitted to using one form of contraception. The most commonly used contraceptive was a condom (7.2%), followed by pills (6.4%) among the sexually active students. Most of the respondents (40.6%) indicated using contraceptive just once. The relationship of cervical cancer awareness and the demographic profile of the respondents were not statically associated or significant by age, faculty, level of study, marital status or education. However, level of knowledge of pap smear was statistically associated with current relationship status (p=0.007), having given birth (0.036) and smoking habits (p<0.01) among the respondents.
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Author Information
  • Department of Human Physiology, College of Medical Sciences Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Internal Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Haematology, College of Health Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Platinum Premier Medical Centre, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

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