Knowledge About Human Papilloma Virus Among Medical Students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Physicians’ knowledge and comments are important in the uptake of human papillomavirus (HPV) screening among women. We aimed to evaluate the knowledge of ​senior medical students on HPV as future physicians of Iran.

A cross-sectional study was performed between March 2021 and May 2021. All final-year medical students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences were invited to complete an online standardized questionnaire through a mobile app. The Independent samples t test was performed for data analysis in SPSS software version 16.

In the present study, 215 female medical students and 128 male ones participated, with an average age of 23.14 (SD=1.21) years. Most of the students (85.67%) were single. The average knowledge score of the students was 9.25 (SD=6.21), demonstrating their low level of knowledge of HPV. Furthermore, no significant score differences were observed between students regarding their gender and marital status.

Regarding the low scores of final-year medical students’ knowledge of HPV, educational programs should be directed to HPV to improve medical students’ knowledge about this virus and its related diseases.