RETRACTED ARTICLE: Evaluation of Predictive Factors and Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening in Women Referring to Comprehensive Health Centers in Khorramabad, Lorestan Province, Iran during 2020

Khatereh Anbari, Alireza Hosieni, Pardis Ghanadi

Abstract


Background: Cervical cancer is among the most common malignancies in women, especially in developing countries. Proper and timely screening can prevent this cancer and its complications. The present study aims to assess the cervical cancer screening status in women referring to comprehensive health centers in Khorramabad, Iran.

Methods: A total of 457 married women aged 18-60 years, who referred to health centers in Khorramabad city, were included in this cross-sectional study using a multi-stage (stratified-cluster-random) sampling method. Information on demographic characteristics, pregnancy history, cervical cancer screening status, including taking or not taking screening tests so far, frequency and intervals of screening and the reason for not taking screening tests were collected using a multi-part questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results: The mean age of participants in the study was 36.1± 9.69 years. About 66.7% of the participants stated that they had the history of taking at least one Pap smear (Papanicolaou smear) by the time of the study. The age of first Pap smear in most participants was 25-29 years and the frequency of taking a Pap smear test in most cases (28.9%) was once. Most participants reported that they did not take Pap tests because they were unaware of the importance and necessity of taking a Pap smear test. The frequency of Pap smear screening in the women surveyed was statistically significant by age (PV=0.001), education level (PV<0.001), occupation (PV=0.001), and place of residence (PV=0.001).   

Conclusion: The level of awareness and subsequently cervical cancer screening frequency can be increased in women of the community with proper planning and training women in the community at various levels, including the comprehensive health center.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; Screening; Health care centers; Khorramabad; Iran   

Editorial Expression of Concern

20 June 2025: Following publication of this paper, the internal audit (consequent to concerns on quality raised by Web of Science) notified Advancements in Life Sciences about suspected plagiarism. By this Editorial Expression of Concern, we alert the scientific community of the errors as we reconcile the records.

Editorial Note

25 June 2025: While rerunning the Turnitin originality analysis, a similarity index of 68% was found for this article (63% from a single source). Editorial board of Advancements in Life Sciences has started the process of retracting this article due to the above post-publication findings. The process shall be concluded after registering responses from the authors. Meanwhile, full text of the article shall remain unavailable for citations (this notice has been updated following insights derived from relevant COPE cases and the industry standards). Show of cause notice has also been issued to the concerned editorial team member.

Retraction Note

20 July 2025: The Editor-in-Chief, upon the recommendation of the Inquiry Team, has retracted this article due to plagiarism. An internal audit revealed that several articles, including this one, exhibited a high similarity index without proper disclosure or attribution by the authors. This constitutes a breach of the journal’s editorial policy, and the article is therefore being retracted.

The authors do not agree to this retraction.


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.62940/als.v9i3.1367

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