Abstract
Objective: To clarify causal factors underlying the low cervical cancer screening rate in young women.
Methods: Six hundred thirty eight young women in their 20s and 30s who underwent uterine cervical cancer screening from April 2011 through March 2012 and 116 young women who received voluntary prophylactic vaccination for uterine cervical cancer from January 2010 through March 2014 were enrolled. We conducted a survey regarding their awareness of cancer check-ups using a question sheet.
Results: The reasons for not undergoing cervical cancer screening in 75.1% and 28.7% of the women in their 20-30s were “No reason, no opportunity” and “Unrelated to me”, respectively. The reason for undergoing screening in 69.4% of the women was “Was mailed coupon for cervical cancer screening”. These results indicate that the significance of cervical cancer screening needs to be explained more thoroughly and that the provision of opportunities promoted screening behavior. While 60.5% of the women considered the ideal interval for screening to be one year, just 16% had undergone it every year and another 16% every two years. On the other hand, 92.5% of the women who found out about and actually received prophylactic vaccination indicated a willingness to continue to receive screening in the future.
Conclusions: We predict that screening behavior in Japan will be raised to the international level by enhancing recognition of cervical cancer screening and encouraging screening behavior through the provision of screening opportunities based on the understanding that cervical cancer is preventable.
