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Difference Between Medical and Nonmedical Students on Knowledge, Practice, and Attitude Towards the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in China: a Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

HPV vaccine can prevent HPV infection effectively. The college student’s vaccination status is unclear in mainland China. We assessed the knowledge, practice, and attitude towards HPV vaccine and compared the differences between medical and nonmedical students. It was a cross-sectional study using self-administered anonymous questionnaires. Nine-hundred sixty full-time college students were recruited randomly at Peking University in China. The medical students had higher level of knowledge of HPV and its vaccine than the nonmedical students (p < 0.001). The vaccinated female students were 9.0%. The high-grade clinical students had a higher uptake rate than the nonmedical students (19.5 vs 8.6%, p < 0.05). Awareness of HPV (p < 0.01), awareness of the vaccine (p < 0.001), and vaccinated family members or friends (p < 0.001) were related to the nonmedical students’ vaccination. Vaccinated family members or friends were significant predictor for students’ vaccination status (p < 0.001). Medical students knew more about HPV and its vaccine than nonmedical students. Female students’ vaccinated rate was low, and the high-grade clinical students had a higher uptake rate than the nonmedical students.

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Acknowledgments

This research received no external funding. We extend our thanks to Mifen Chen and Zheng Lin for their support on the questionnaires acquisition.

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Author notes

  1. Yingnan Liu, Xingyuan Jiang and Lingyi Xu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China

    Yingnan Liu, Xingyuan Jiang, Lingyi Xu, Na Di, Lu Jiang & Xia Tao

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  1. Yingnan Liu
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  2. Xingyuan Jiang
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  3. Lingyi Xu
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  4. Na Di
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  5. Lu Jiang
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  6. Xia Tao
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Contributions

Y. Liu, X. Jiang, and L. Xu made the same contribution to this article and they should all be the first authors. Conceptualization, Y. Liu and X. Tao; methodology, Y. Liu and N. Di; software, Y. Liu; validation, Y. Liu and N. Di; formal analysis, X. Jiang, L. Xu, and Y. Liu; investigation, X. Jiang, L. Xu, Y. Liu, N. Di, and L. Jiang; resources, Y. Liu, N. Di, and X. Tao; data curation, X. Jiang, L. Xu, and Y. Liu; writing—original draft preparation, X. Jiang, L. Xu, and Y. Liu; writing—review and editing, Y. Liu, L. Xu, and X. Jiang; visualization, Y. Liu.; supervision, Y. Liu; project administration, Y. Liu; funding acquisition, Y. Liu.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xia Tao.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Ethical approval from the Medical Faculty Ethics Committee Peking University First Hospital was obtained.

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Liu, Y., Jiang, X., Xu, L. et al. Difference Between Medical and Nonmedical Students on Knowledge, Practice, and Attitude Towards the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in China: a Cross-Sectional Study. J Canc Educ 36, 1014–1021 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-019-01682-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-019-01682-4

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