Awareness and knowledge about human papillomavirus among Inuit women in Nunavik, Quebec

Accurate knowledge about human Papillomavirus (HPV) and its link to cervical cancer is essential for women to understand and make use of cervical cancer prevention and detection opportunities. This study was the first to survey awareness and knowledge of HPV in a population of Canadian Inuit. The objectives of this study were to assess the level of awareness and knowledge of Inuit women in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, about HPV infection and its relation to cervical cancer and to study correlates of this awareness. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Women were recruited through convenience sampling at two recruitment sites in Ungava Bay from March 2008 to June 2009. Questionnaires were completed by 175 women aged 18-63. Thirty one percentage reported that they had heard of HPV. Of the women who had heard of HPV, 53% knew that HPV causes cervical cancer. The level of HPV awareness was not found to vary with participants' age. Awareness of HPV was found to be associated with greater or equal to 13 years of education (OR = 4.4, 95%: 1.3-15.1) and knowing someone with cervical cancer (OR = 3.6, 95%: 1.4-8.9). Despite the high prevalence of HPV and incidence of cervical cancer in Inuit populations, there is a low level of knowledge in this population. The lack of awareness and knowledge and misconceptions found in this study has been consistently found in other non-Indigenous populations.