Questionnaire survey on cervical cancer screening and HPV awareness among patients at a local cancer center in Japan

Q: What was the main purpose of the questionnaire survey?

To conduct an epidemiological analysis of cervical cancer by collecting patient-level data on cervical cancer screening history and knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer.

Q: Who participated in the study and when were they recruited?

Patients visiting the hospital between January 2017 and July 2023 due to abnormal cervical cytology or a cancer diagnosis completed the questionnaire.

Q: What factors were associated with difficulty in accurate diagnosis during screening?

Tumor location within the endocervical canal and non-squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histology were suggested as contributing factors.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Noah

Epidemiological evidence from a local cancer center in Japan evaluates cervical cancer screening behavior and HPV knowledge among patients attending the hospital with abnormal cervical cytology or a cancer diagnosis. A questionnaire survey of 471 participants (35 non-participants) analyzes screening history and HPV/cervical cancer awareness. Findings highlight symptom-driven care in stage 1b1–4b, lower screening uptake, and reduced awareness of HPV links among older patients, with diagnostic difficulty tied to endocervical canal tumors and non-SCC histology.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

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Nakamura et al. BMC Women's Health (2024) 24:402 BMC Women's Health [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03256-z](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03256-z) RESEARCH Open Access Questionnaire survey on cervical cancer screening and HPV awareness among patients at a local cancer center in Japan Kazuto Nakamura 1*, Keiko Kigure 1, Toshio Nishimura 1 and Soichi Yamashita 1 Abstract Background The incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia is increasing in Japan. Although human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cancer screening are crucial in preventing cancer-related mortality, the cervical cancer screening rate in Japan was only approximately 43 . 6% in 2022. This study aimed to conduct an epidemiological analysis of cervical cancer by collecting data from individual patients. Methods A questionnaire survey was administered to patients who visited our hospital between January 2017 and July 2023 owing to abnormal cervical cytological findings or a cancer diagnosis. Patients answered questions regarding their history of cervical cancer screening as well as their knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer. Results During the study period, 471 patients participated in the survey, with 35 declining to participate. Patients with Stage 1b1–4b primarily sought medical attention due to self-reported symptoms (P < 0. 001); however, they were less likely to have undergone cervical cancer screening (P < 0. 001) . Additionally, older patients were less likely to be aware of the association of HPV with cervical and other cancers. Notably, 28 of the 129 patients with stage 1b1–4b cancer underwent cervical cancer screening within 2 years. The tumor location within the endocervical canal emerged as a significant factor contributing to the difficulty for an accurate diagnosis of precancerous or cervical cancer during cervical screening. Furthermore, non-squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histology was another possible factor. Conclusions Our findings suggest the need to widely disseminate information regarding the significance of cancer screening to increase cancer screening rates. Moreover, establishing strategies for improving the accuracy of detecting lesions during screening for non-SCC and endocervical canal tumors is crucial. Keywords Cervical cancer, Screening, HPV, Active recruitment strategy *Correspondence: Kazuto Nakamura [nkazuto@gunma-cc.jp](nkazuto@gunma-cc.jp) 1Department of Gynecology, Gunma Prefectural Cancer Center, 617-1 Takabayashi-nishi, Ota, Japan © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/l](http://creativecommons.org/l)icenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ([http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Nakamura et al. BMC Women's Health (2024) 24:402 Introduction In 2020, the World Health Organization issued a statement to eliminate cervical cancer using human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, highly accurate cancer screening, and effective treatment of pre-invasive and invasive cancers [1]. The incidence

FAQs

What was the main purpose of the questionnaire survey?

To conduct an epidemiological analysis of cervical cancer by collecting patient-level data on cervical cancer screening history and knowledge of HPV and cervical cancer.

Who participated in the study and when were they recruited?

Patients visiting the hospital between January 2017 and July 2023 due to abnormal cervical cytology or a cancer diagnosis completed the questionnaire.

What factors were associated with difficulty in accurate diagnosis during screening?

Tumor location within the endocervical canal and non-squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histology were suggested as contributing factors.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Noah