Cervical Cancer Screening in Postmenopausal Women Referring to Hamadan Comprehensive Health Centers

Cervical cancer is the sixth most common cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Therefore, the importance of screening programs such as cervical screening tests in the early diagnosis of this disease is highlighted. Therefore, the present study aimed to screen cervical cancer in postmenopausal women referred to comprehensive health services centers of Hamadan.

In this cross-sectional study, 108 postmenopausal women referred to the comprehensive health services centers of Hamadan were selected through cluster sampling in 1397. In this study, data were collected by interviewing women based on a researcher-made questionnaire consisted of two parts. After data collection, data were analyzed using SPSS24 software and the significance level of tests was 5%.

Results showed that the mean age of participants was 55.39 + 3.71. The mean number of Pap smears performed by women was 2.21 + 1.71 times. Also, 29.6% of women had Pap smear tests. 27.8% of women referred to health centers or doctors for information about Pap smear tests. 18.5% of women had Pap smear tests regularly. 13.9% of women went to health centers or doctors to find out about the results of Pap smear tests. 10.2% referred to a physician for treatment if they suspected Pap smear results. There was a significant relationship between the number of deliveries and duration of menopause with screening (P<0.05). But there was no statistically significant relationship between other variables with screening (P>0.05).

According to the results of this study, it is recommended to train women in cervical cancer and its screening method at the appropriate time in counseling centers and comprehensive health services. Adequate awareness of women about early diagnosis is recommended. It is also recommended that research be done with a larger sample size, and interventions to screen for cervical cancer and preventive behaviors.