Background: Uganda has approximately 1.2 million people aged 15–64 years living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Previous studies have shown a higher prevalence of premalignant cervical lesions among HIV-positive women than among HIV-negative women. Additionally, HIV-infected womenare more likely to have their human papilloma virus (HPV) infection progress to cancer than non-HIV-infected women. We determined the prevalence of premalignant cervical lesions and their association with HIV infection among women attending a cervical cancer screening clinic at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) in southwestern Uganda. Methods: We conducted a comparative cross-sectional study of 210 women aged 22–65 years living with HIV and 210 women not living with HIV who were systematically enrolled from March 2022 to May 2022. Participants were subjected to a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire to obtain their demographic and clinical data. Additionally, Papanicolaou smears were taken for microscopy to observe premalignant cervical lesions. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine theassociation between HIV status and premalignant cervical lesions. Results: The overall prevalence of premalignant cervical lesions in the study population was 17% (n=72; 95% C.I: 14.1-21.4), with 23% (n=47; 95% C.I: 17.8-29.5) in women living with HIV and 12% (n=25; 95% C.I: 8.2-17.1) in women not living with HIV (p<0.003). The most common premalignant cervical lesions identified were low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) in both women living with HIV (74.5%; n=35) and women not living with HIV (80%; n=20). HIV infection was significantly associated with premalignant lesions (aOR: 2.37, 95% CI: 1.27–4.42,p=0.007). Conclusion: Premalignant cervical lesions, particularly LSILs, were more common in HIV-positive women than in HIV-negative women, highlighting the need to strengthen the integration of cervical cancer prevention strategies into HIV care programs.

Background: Overweight and obesity have become more common among adolescents. Various indicators have been used to assess this burden across populations. Recent findings elsewhere have found neck circumference to be useful in defining overweight and obesity. However, the use of neck circumference as marker of overweight and obesity needs to be further explored among adolescents in Uganda. Objective: To assess the usefulness of neck circumference as a marker of overweight and obesity. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among secondary adolescents aged 12-19 years from May to August in 2018, Height was measured using a wall mount height board and weight using a standard weighing scale. Neck circumference was measured using an inelastic measuring tape. We defined overweight as BMI =25.0-29.9kg/m2 while obesity as BMI ≥30.0kg/m2 among the study participants. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between neck circumference, height, weight and body mass index. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the suitable cutoff of neck circumference for overweight and obesity. Results: We enrolled 616 adolescents aged 12-19 years, with mean age of 15.6±2.0 years. Most (65.6%) were female. The overall prevalence of overweight was 30.5% while that of obesity was 3.4%. Neck circumference was significantly correlated with height (r = 0.561, p<0.001), weight (r = 0.547, p<0.001) and body mass index (r = 0.193, p<0.001). The best cutoff of neck circumference to identify participants with obesity were ≥ 31.0 cm with AUC of 0.83 and ≥ 32.0cm with an AUC of 0.59 among the females and males respectively. Conclusion: Neck circumference was useful in defining and hence classifying for overweight or obesity among the female adolescents in our study population. It could useful for screening for overweight and obesity among the female adolescents.

Background: Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) is a significant public health issue that negatively affects the Quality of Life (QOL) of women in both low- and high-income countries. About 20% of women will undergo surgery for POP over their lifetime. However, there is a paucity of information on the effect of surgery on QOL especially in resource limited settings. We therefore sought to determine the QOL among women with symptomatic POP living in rural southwestern Uganda and the impact of surgery on their quality of life.Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study among 120 women with symptomatic POP awaiting surgery at the urogynecology unit of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. The QOL at baseline and at 1 year after surgery in the domains of physical performance, social interaction, emotion state, sexual life, sleep quality, personal hygiene and urinary bladder function was determined using a King’s Quality of Life questionnaire. A paired t- test was used to compare the difference in mean scores at baseline and at 1-year post-surgery. Results: Of the 120 participants that were enrolled at baseline, 117(98%) completed the follow-up at 1 year. The baseline QOL was poor. The domains with the poorest QOL were physical, social, sexual, emotional and sleep quality. The mean QOL scores in all the domains and the overall QOL significantly improved 1 year after surgery (p<0.001). The overall QOL improved by 38.9% after surgery (p < 0.001).Conclusion: The QOL was poor among women with symptomatic POP and surgery improved the QOL in all the domains of life. We recommend that surgery as an option for treatment of symptomatic POP should be scaled up to improve on the QOL of these women.

Background Overweight and obesity have become more common among adolescents. Various indicators have been used to assess this burden across populations. Recent findings elsewhere have found neck circumference to be useful in defining overweight and obesity. However, the use of neck circumference as marker of overweight and obesity needs to be further explored among adolescents in Uganda. Objective To assess the usefulness of neck circumference as a marker of overweight and obesity. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted among secondary adolescents aged 12–19 years from May to August in 2018, Height was measured using a wall mount height board and weight using a standard weighing scale. Neck circumference was measured using an inelastic measuring tape. We defined overweight as BMI = 25.0-29.9kg/m2 while obesity as BMI ≥ 30.0kg/m2 among the study participants. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between neck circumference, height, weight and body mass index. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the suitable cutoff of neck circumference for overweight and obesity. Results We enrolled 616 adolescents aged 12–19 years, with mean age of 15.6 ± 2.0 years. Most (65.6%) were female. The overall prevalence of overweight was 30.5% while that of obesity was 3.4%. Neck circumference was significantly correlated with height (r = 0.561, P < 0.001), weight (r = 0.547, P < 0.001) and body mass index (r = 0.193, P < 0.001). The best cutoff of neck circumference to identify participants with obesity were ≥ 31.0 cm with AUC of 0.83[0.73–0.94] and ≥ 32.0cm with an AUC of 0.59[0.11-1.00] among the females and males respectively. Conclusion Neck circumference was useful in defining and hence classifying for overweight or obesity among the female adolescents in our study population. It could useful for screening for overweight and obesity among the female adolescents.