TITLE:
Exposure to Penile Cancer: The View of Patients with Human Papillomavirus
AUTHORS:
Maria Lúcia Neto de Menezes, Maria das Neves Figueiroa, Estela Maria Leite Meirelles Monteiro, Evelliny da Silva Metódio, Renato Daniel Melo da Silva
KEYWORDS:
Penile Neoplasms, Men’s Health, Human Papillomavirus
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.4 No.6,
June
6,
2017
ABSTRACT: This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study that analyzes knowledge about penile cancer among patients with human papillomavirus (HPV), monitored at the Reference Center for Urological Treatment of Arcoverde, Pernambuco, Brazil. The population of this study consisted of 27 men with a medical diagnosis of genital HPV infection within the period between 2008 and 2013. Age ranged between 20 and 49 years-old and most men were brown-skinned, married, and had a low socioeconomic status; also, most individuals were infected for more than 1 year and there was recurrence of HPV infection. We identified that 77.8% of the patients were unaware of the relationship between HPV and penile cancer. In addition to HPV infection, smoking and unprotected sex stood out as risk factors for penile cancer. The prevalence of penile cancer in the sample was 4%. We concluded that HPV patients knew about penile cancer, but they did not associate this disease with the need to adopt mutilating treatments.