BELGIUM: Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer Development: What Do Women Think?

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

BELGIUM: Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer Development: What Do Women Think?

Sexual Health (09.04) Vol. 1; No. 3: P.145-149 - Wednesday, December 15, 2004
M.F.D. Baay; V. Verhoeven; D. Avonts; J.B. Vermorken

The authors suggest that introduction of human papillomavirus detection into the cervical-cancer screening process will make it necessary to inform the target population about the relationship between the virus and cervical cancer. They conducted a study to determine what knowledge women in Belgium have of the relation between HPV and cervical cancer, using a self-administered questionnaire to measure perception of risk factors for cervical cancer development.

The questionnaire the researchers developed suggested 20 risk factors for cervical cancer: smoking, alcohol, drugs, early start of sexual activity, number of sex partners, sexual behavior of the male partner, bacterial infection, viral infection, large number of children/pregnancies, immune suppression (e.g. due to transplantation), hormonal therapy (e.g. due to menopause), infrequent cervical cancer screening, environmental pollution, use of oral contraceptives, non-safe sex (i.e. no condom use), insufficient physical activity, imbalanced nutrition, obesity, presence of high-voltage transmission lines, and genetic factors (i.e. cancer in the family).

The 162 respondents included women visiting their general practitioner, women at a lecture on cervical-cancer risk factors, and female students in biomedical sciences. Mean age of the women polled was 39.6 years. Prior investigation of the perception of risk factors for cervical cancer had focused on mainly college or high school students in Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom, according to the authors.

The women rated genetic factors as the highest risk, with a mean score of 4.5. They ranked bacterial infection second, with a mean score of 3.8. Smoking ranked fourth with a mean score of 3.6, and viral infection shared sixth place with number of sexual partners at a mean score of 3.4. Presence of high-voltage power lines and physical activity scored in the last two places at 2.4 and 2.2, respectively.

"Seventy-four percent of the women expected the chance of cervical-cancer survival to be 80 percent or lower," the study reported, "whereas survival is estimated at more than 95 percent when lesions are detected in early stages."

The investigators found that "the vast majority of the women believe that there is a genetic basis for the development of cervical cancer." Twenty-one women suggested sexually transmitted agents could play a role in cervical-cancer development, but only five women (3.1 percent) could pinpoint HPV.

"In conclusion," the researchers reported, "although the risk factor 'genetic factors' was overrated, knowledge of the most important risk factors [i.e. smoking, sexual habits and (sexually transmitted) infections], would appear to be present to a moderate level in our population. However, few women indicated HPV as the most important risk factor. Accurate information about HPV is needed to inform women of their screening choices and to avoid psychosocial problems in women with positive HPV DNA test results."
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