Meisam Akhlaghdoust - Pars Advanced and Minimally Invasive Medical Manners Research Center, Pars Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Background: Cervical cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women. Infection of specific high risk Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) is known to cause cervical cancer. Aim: the aim of this study to determine knowledge, awareness and attitude of Iranian Medical students on HPV, HPV vaccine and cervical cancer. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in a total of 640 first year medical students between the age group 18–20 years in Tehran medical sciences school affiliated by Islamic Azad University between Oct 2018 and January 2019. Sampling method was census sampling. For statistical analysis used by SPSS version 21. Results: girls had more knowledge about cervical cancer (35.6%, p<0.001), HPV (28.1%, p<0.001) and HPV vaccines (37.4%, p<0.001) when compared to those in boys. However, knowledge about the types of HPV and vaccines was poor. Also girls had higher awareness compared to boys but no significant differences. About 35% of students agreed that girls should get vaccinated against HPV (p<0.05) and 3% of students agreed that boys should get vaccinated against HPV (p> 0.05). Conclusions: It is suggested that there is a need for educational intervention and awareness campaigns to augment HPV immunization program for control of cervical cancer in Iran.

Cervical cancer, HPV, knowledge, awareness