What do persons attending to a primary health care center know
about STDs before they get married?
S. Dilek Torun, S. Hidiroglu, Z. Kursun
Marmara
University Medical Faculty Public Health Department, Istanbul, Turkey
Aim
Determine the knowledge of persons undergoing STDs screening, which is one of
the pre-marriage procedures in Turkey since 2002.
Method A questionnaire is
applied face to face to persons attending to the primary health care center
during 3-20 January 2005.
Results A total of 50.6% of 170 participants were women. Mean
age of men and women was 26.91 ± 5.89 , 23.28 ± 5.99 respectively. 20% of the
participants were graduated from secondary school, 39.4% were primary scholl and
14.7% were illiterate. The education of women and men was similar (p<0.05).
Table 1 Distribution of some answers according to STDs among all participants
|
Questions answered as “Yes” |
HIV | HBV | HCV | Syphilis |
| Have you ever heard
of (%) |
87.6 | 83.5 | 60.6 | 50.0 |
| It can be transmitted by intercourse ( %) | 80.6 | 36.5 |
26.5 |
32.9 |
| Prevention of it is possible by use of condom during intercourse (%) |
24.1 |
14.1 | 9.4 | 11.2 |
| Prevention is possible by vaccination (%) | 24.7 | 61.2 | 45.3 | 17.7 |
|
It can be completely treated (%) |
31.5 | 58.9 | 39.3 | 29.2 |
The main differences
according to sex, age and education were mostly about syphillis and HCV.Men had
ever heard syphillis more than women (56.0%, 44.2% respectively; p<0.05). Education increases the familiarity with syphillis only among men. who were educated more than secondary school have ever heard syphillis more than those who were less educated (85.2%,,42.9% respectively, p<0.05). Women aged <25 years have ever heard syphillis more than elderly women (62.5%, 36% respectively, p<0.05). The relation between age was similar among men. 70.6% of women who were educated secondary school or higher had ever heard HCV while this was 48.1% among less educated women (p<0.05). 52.8% of women aged <25 years have ever heard HCV while this was 24.6% among more elderly women (p>0.05).
Although the ratio of people who do not have any opinion about syphillis was
higher among women than men (p<0.05) the knowledge about sexual transmission route and prevention of especially syphillis and HCV is insufficient among wide percent of the participants.
Conclusion Even among people who are going to
marry and will be sexually active, knowledge about sexually transmission route
and prevention of STD is insufficient. Counseling about STDs during marriage
procedures has a special importance in our country.