Knowledge of and attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health in adults in Shiraz: a need for further education

Sexual health influences general well-being and the overall quality of life of all men and women. This study in Shiraz, Islamic Republic of Iran, aimed to assess the level of knowledge of and attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health among adults. In a cross-sectional study in 2010, 276 men and 281 women were recruited at pre-marital counselling courses and completed a 33-item anonymous questionnaire in private. The overall level of knowledge of men and women was low. Both men and women had low scores on knowledge of genital anatomy, sexually transmitted infections and contraceptive use. The majority of participants had positive attitudes towards implementing educational programmes on sexual and reproductive health issues for young adults and prior to marriage. Efficient educational programmes providing up-to-date information about sexual and reproductive health are needed in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Comparison of pap smear quality with anatomical spatula method and the common method [spatula- cytobrush]: a single blind clinical trial

Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women in the world. Papanicolaou smear is known as a standard test for cervical cancer screening; however, the most important challenge is high rates of false negative results. The aim of this study was to compare the quality of smears obtained by anatomical spatula and spatula-cytobrush. The most important factor in false negative result is inappropriate tool of sampling. One hundred married women participated in this single blind clinical trial. All participants were interviewed; two samples were obtained from every participant: one with spatula-cytobrush and another one with anatomical spatula. All slides were encoded and were assessed by two pathologists. Then, data were analyzed by means of kappa coefficient. Cell adequacy was 96.1% in anatomical spatula method and 91.2% in spatula-cytobrush method [p= 0.016]. The rates for endocervical cells and metaplasia cells in anatomical spatula method were 70.6% and 24.5% respectively and these amounts were 69.6% and 24.5% respectively in the spatula-cytobrush method [p <0.001]. No one reported any pain and the amount of bleeding was 38.2% in both methods [P>0.05]. Regarding infection and inflammatory reactions there was no statistically significant difference between two methods [p>0.05]. Based on our findings in this study, results of sampling with anatomical spatula method were more acceptable and better than those with spatula-cytobrush sampling