Prevalence of Carcinoma Cervix in Rural Punjab and Need to Create Awareness Regarding Cervical Cancer

Background: Carcinoma of the cervix is the second most common cancer amongst women and one of the leading cause of cancer death. Objectives: To study prevalence of cervical cancer in tertiary care centre and need to create awareness about it. Method:  300 subjects between the age group of 18-70 years visiting Gynecological OPD of tertiary care centre from December 2009 to February 2010 were enrolled. Results: The prevalence of cervical cancer was 7 cases in the study group of 300. The mean score of awareness regarding cervical cancer was 8.09 out of maximum score of 20. Only 37.7% had adequate knowledge whereas 187 (62.3%) had meagre knowledge. Conclusion: The percentage of cervical cancer was found to be 2.3% and all the patients had squamous cell carcinoma while large percentage of study subjects (62.3%) were unaware regarding cervical cancer.