Adults’ Knowledge and Behaviors Related to Human Papillomavirus Infection

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Figure 1.
Knowledge scores (possible scores are 0 to 14) by self-reported level of knowledge about HPV. The central dark line is the median, the box is the scores between the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the line represents the range of scores.

Table 1.

Demographics

Variable	Family Practice Offices (n = 148)	Student Health Clinic (n = 140)
Age (years)
Mean	36.7^*	24.6
Age range between 25th and 75th percentiles	27 to 46	20 to 27
Gender
Men	32%^*	15%
Women	68%	85%
Race
White	77%^*	64%
Black	14%	9%
Hispanic	2%	7%
Asian	3%	13%
Other	1%	1%
Marital Status
Single	35%^*	84%
Married	56%	12%
Divorced/separated/widow	9%	4%
Hours of work for pay outside the home (mean)	34.5^*	18.8
Have Medical Insurance
Yes	91%	82%
No	8%	14%
Not Sure	1%	4%
Smoking Status
Smoker	19%	9%
Never Smoker	81%	91%
Number of sexual partners in past 2 months (mean)	1.2	0.8
Number of lifetime sexual partners (mean)^*	9.9^*	5.2
Sexual Preference
Heterosexual	94%	95%
Homosexual	3%	2%
Bisexual	3%	3%
Age of first intercourse (years, mean)	17.7	16.7
Currently in a monogamous relationship
No	23%	31%

Table 2.

Knowledge about HPV

	True	False	Don’t Know
HPV is the virus that causes herpes	20%	27%	51%
Genital warts are caused by HPV	38%	7%	53%
HPV is the virus that can cause cervical cancer	39%	8%	51%
The best way to prevent complications caused by HPV is to have regular Pap smears^*	48%	9%	41%
If a woman’s Pap smear is normal, she doesn’t have HPV	13%	39%	46%
Changes in a Pap smear may indicate that a woman has HPV	42%	5%	51%
Genital warts are caused by the herpes virus	32%	28%	38%
HPV can cause cancer	44%	8%	47%
Pap smears will almost always detect HPV	18%	21%	59%
Symptoms of HPV: warty growths	28%	20%	52%
If untreated, HPV can cause pre-cancer or cervical dysplasia	30%	20%	50%
What increases risk of getting HPV:
Sex before the age of 16	22%	75%	3%
Multiple sexual partners	69%	28%	3%
Your partner has many sexual partners	65%	33%	2%

Table 3.

Knowledge Scores by Various Groupings