2287 Wiadomości Lekarskie, VOLUME LXXIV, ISSUE 9 PART 2, SEPTEMBER 2021 © Aluna Publishing INTRODUCTION Cervical cancer ranks fourth among women’s types of cancer. Cervical cancer was diagnosed in approximately 570 000 women worldwide in 2018, with about 311 000 women dying from this disease. [1] GLOBOCAN estimates that there were 471 000 cases of cervical cancer in the year 2000 increasing steadily over time to 529 000 in 2008, and 570 000 in 2018. [2] for both sexes and all age groups, there were 604 127 (3.1%) new cervix uteri cancer and 341 831 (3.3%) deaths in 2020 of all cancer-caused deaths. [3, 4] Tis cancer can afect all women especially those of more than 30 years old and is mainly caused by the long-term infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). [5] HPV is one of the commonest sexually transmitted diseases which is mainly presented without symptoms, [6] so can be converted to cancer before being diagnosed and treated. In most cases, it takes 10 to 15 years or more to progress from HPV infection to chronic infection, precancerous, and then to invasive cervical cancer and rarely it may progress within 5 years only. During the frst and second year, the woman with precancerous level and low-grade changes can be treated and the health state can be returned to normal if detected in-time. [7] Te preventable nature of cervical cancer and the efec- tiveness of early treatment to manage this type of cancer are the main reasons for adopting efective screening programs for early detection. Te routine cervical screening is done by safe, simple, somewhat inexpensive, and more perceived benefcial among women Papanicolaou (Pap) smear. [8, 9, 10] Pap smear should be performed as a part of regular health care for most women aged 21 to 65 even if they are not sexually active, have received the HPV vaccine, or have reached menopause period. According to the expert rec- ommendations, women must compulsorily perform pap smear at least every 3 years starting the age of 21 alone or with the HPV test. [11] In Iraq, the last World Health Organization (WHO) pub- lished data in 2018 reported 155 deaths from cervical cancer, which is 0.09 percent of all deaths making Iraq standing number 171 in the world. [12] Despite the knowledge about signifcant efect of early diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer in decreasing morbidity and mortality from this cancer, the pap smear is still not a part of national screening programs in Iraq and previous studies conducted in diferent places in Iraq showed low level of knowledge and practice of pap smear among Iraqi women. [13, 14] So, it is of great importance to assess women’s awareness, and knowledge regarding this test to strengthen their positive attitudes and fnally lead to more screening and test achieved by target women, to be added as a national screening program. THE AIM Tis study aimed to identify knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding pap smear among women living in the AWARENESS REGARDING PAP SMEAR AMONG WOMEN IN BAGHDAD CITY, IRAQ DOI: 10.36740/WLek202109207 Tiba Nezar Hasan 1 , Taqi Mohammed Jwad Taher 2 , Hasanain Faisal Ghazi 3 1 AL-TURATH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BAGHDAD, IRAQ 2 WASIT UNIVERSITY, WASIT, IRAQ 3 AL-BAYAN UNIVERSITY, BAGHDAD, IRAQ ABSTRACT The aim: The aim of this study was to determine the awareness level regarding pap smear in women living in Baghdad city, Iraq. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was done in 265 women living in Baghdad city using internet-based survey. Questionnaire was adopted from a previous study to measure the awareness level among women. Results: the results showed that only 8(3%) of the respondent had a family history of cervical cancer. Almost (94%) have heard about cervical cancer, while only (38%) knew that HPV virus is the cause of cervical cancer. Majority of the respondents (87%) heard about pap smear while only 67 (25.0 %) had performed pap smear before. A total of 86% agreed that early diagnosis is important in treating of the cervical cancer. Conclusions: Majority of women heard of cervical cancer and pap smear, but the level of its practice is still low with only 25% of respondents had performed it before. More health promotion is needed especially, at the primary care level regarding the importance of performing regular pap smear especially for women with family history of the cervical cancer. KEY WORDS: Pap smear, awareness, cervical cancer, women, Iraq Wiad Lek. 2021;74(9 p.II):2287-2292 ORIGINAL ARTICLE