KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES REGARDING CERVICAL CANCER AND HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS AMONG PHYSICIANS IN ARAR CITY, SAUDI ARABIA

Background: In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), cervical cancer ranks the 9th most diagnosed cancer among females aged 15-44 years and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) recent figures, it ranks the 6th leading cause of cancer-related mortalities in this age group in Saudi Arabia. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the primary health care physicians towards the Cervical Cancer and Human Papilloma Virus and its prevention. Subjects and methods:A descriptive cross-sectional facility basedstudy was conducted in Arar city in a period from February to December, 2021 among all the primary health care physicians, in addition to gynecologist and pediatricians in Maternity and Child hospital. A comprehensive structured English self-administered questionnaire to assess the levels of knowledge and attitudes regarding cervical cancer and the two major preventive strategies (the Pap smear and HPV vaccine) was used for data collection. Results: The study included 128 physicians. Females represented 61.7% of them. Their age ranged between 24 and 56 years with an arithmetic mean±tandard deviation (SD) of 31.6±6 years. The total knowledge score about cervical cancer prevention and screening ranged between 2 and 21 out of a maximum possible of 22 with a median (interquartile range IQR) of 15 (12-17). The highest knowledge score was observed among family physicians (mean rank=72.90) whereas the lowest score was observed among pediatricians (mean rank=38.55), p<0.001. The total attitude score ranged between 7 and 15 out of a maximum possible of 17 with a median (interquartile range IQR) of 11 (9-12). Only 20.3% of the physicians reported a history of ever been vaccination agaist HPV.The age of vaccinated physicians was significantly lower than that of not vaccinated group (29.0±4.1 vs. 32.2±6.3), p=0.014. Similarly, the years of experience of vaccinated physicians was significantly lower than those of not vaccinated group (3.5±3.0 vs. 5.9±5.2), p=0.024. Almost half of physicians between R1 and R3 (46.2-55.6%) compared to only 4% of R4 and 4.9% of specialists reported history of being vaccinated against HPV, p<0.001. Knowledge about cancer cervix score was significantly higher among not vaccinated compared to vaccinated group (median scores were 16 and 14, respectively), p=0.018. Conclusion:Knowledge of physicians in Arar regarding cancer cervix prevention and screening is moderate, favorable attitude towards the disease was observed, however, suboptimal uptaking of the HPV vaccine was observed.