Practice Towards Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Among Malaysian Women: a Survey of the General Population

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the practice of HPV vaccine among Malaysian women in the general population. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 233 women during the Academic Year 2010/2011. Written consent was obtained from the participants and written information about the study was given enclosed with the questionnaire form. The questionnaire consisted of Socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge about HPV and practice of HPV vaccine. The protocol of this study was approved by the ethics committee of Management and Science University (MSU). Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 13. T-test and ANOVA test were used to explore the relation between socio-demographic characteristics and the practice of HPV vaccine.
Results: A total number of 233 women participated in this study. Majority of the participants were from the age group 17-30 years old, Malay, single and having tertiary education (67.8%, 62.7, 62.2, 86.3%; respectively). As for the knowledge of participants, the majority of them heard about HPV (82.4%), knew that the multiple sex partners increase the risk of HPV (71.7%). Regarding the practice of HPV vaccine among respondents, slightly more than have of them have been vaccinated (51.5%). Regarding the factors that influenced the practice of HPV vaccine among general population; age, marital status and family monthly income were significantly influence the practice of HPV vaccine (p=0.001, p=0.001, p=0.001; respectively).
Conclusion: Slightly more than have of the participants have been vaccinated. Age, marital status and income significantly influence the practice of HPV vaccine. Therefore promotion of HPV vaccine and include HPV vaccine in the national vaccination program is very important as a primary prevention from cervical cancer among women.