Attitude to cervical cancer screening and sexual behaviour among HPV vaccinated young women—A qualitative pilot study.docVIP

Vol.5, No.7A4, 13-18 (2013) Health /10.4236/health.2013.57A4002 Attitude to cervical cancer screening and sexual behaviour among HPV vaccinated young women—A qualitative pilot study* Marie G. Oscarsson , Anna Qvarnstr?m , Tanja Tydén 1,2# 1 2 1 2 School of Health and Caring Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden; Corresponding Author: marie.oscarsson@lnu.se # Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Received 23 April 2013; revised 26 May 2013; accepted 18 June 2013 Copyright ? 2013 Marie G. Oscarsson et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Li- cense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1. INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmit- ted infection (STI). It is estimated that 50% - 80% of sexually active women and men become infected at some point in their lives. Most of the 100 known HPV types cause asymptomatic infections, but some are implicated in the genesis of cervical cancer, anogenital cancer, oro- pharyngeal cancer and other neoplasias [1,2]. In Sweden, HPV prevalence was determined in women aged 15 - 23 years visiting youth clinics, and of 544 successfully ana- lysed samples from non-vaccinated individuals, 62% were positive for high-risk HPV types [2]. The best known is the association between HPV 16 and 18 and cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is one of the most pre- ventable cancers due to its gradual development from the precursor lesions into invasive cancer, which usually takes ten to twelve years. Since this condition develops over a long period, abnormal changes can be detected and treated in early stages. Each year approximately 450 of the 4.2 million women liv