Abstract
Background:India is a major contributor to the global burden of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and associated diseases like cervical and oropharyngeal cancers. Hence, it is essential to recognize the existing knowledge pool of current healthcare students about HPV and its preventive measures to translate this into benefits for the society in the future.Objective:To determine the awareness and knowledge among dental and medical undergraduate students regarding HPV and its diagnosis and prevention.Methods:This cross-sectional study enrolled in 577 dental and undergraduate medical students from a tertiary-care teaching hospital. A questionnaire containing 20 closed-ended multiple-choice questions was used to assess their knowledge regarding HPV and its transmission, cervical cancer and its screening, as well as HPV vaccines and their attitude towards them. Descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U test, and Chi square test were employed for statistical analysis. p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:The study consisted of 52.68% dental and 47.31% medical students, with a mean age of 20.95 ± 1.82 years, M:F ratio of 0.7:1, and a mean overall score of 10.75 ± 5.18 (average). The mean scores for knowledge about HPV, its vaccination, and its diagnosis were 7.98 ± 3.26 (good), 1.61 ± 0.95 (average), and 1.15 ± 1.16 (average), respectively. These scores showed no significant difference between the courses as well as the genders (p > 0.05).Conclusion:Overall, the dental and medical undergraduate students presented an average level of knowledge and awareness regarding HPV and its prevention. This reflects a greater need for educating healthcare professionals in order to have a ripple effect on society at large.
Highlights
Human papilloma virus (HPV) is a high-risk virus known to cause many diseases like warts, cervical cancer (CC), vulvar cancer, and oropharyngeal cancer, spread by physical or sexual contact [1, 2]
Only 8.4% of the participants were aware of all the diseases caused by human papilloma virus (HPV), including cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, vulvar cancer, and warts
While 34.14 % of the students correctly identified HPV 16 and 18 strains to be the cause for the majority of HPV-related cancers, only 28.24% were aware of all modes of its transmission
Summary
Human papilloma virus (HPV) is a high-risk virus known to cause many diseases like warts, cervical cancer (CC), vulvar cancer, and oropharyngeal cancer, spread by physical or sexual contact [1, 2]. Objective: To determine the awareness and knowledge among dental and medical undergraduate students regarding HPV and its diagnosis and prevention. The mean scores for knowledge about HPV, its vaccination, and its diagnosis were 7.98 ± 3.26 (good), 1.61 ± 0.95 (average), and 1.15 ± 1.16 (average), respectively These scores showed no significant difference between the courses as well as the genders (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Overall, the dental and medical undergraduate students presented an average level of knowledge and awareness regarding HPV and its prevention. This reflects a greater need for educating healthcare professionals in order to have a ripple effect on society at large
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
