Cervical cancer screening prevalence and its correlates in Cameroon: secondary data analysis of the 2018 demographic and health surveys

Abstract

Background Cervical cancer, although preventable, is the fourth most common cancer among women globally, and the second most common and deadliest gynaecological cancer in low-and-middle-income countries. Screening is key to the prevention and early detection of the disease for treatment. A few studies estimated the prevalence of cervical cancer screening and its correlates in Cameroon but relied on data that were limited to certain regions of the country. Therefore, this study sought to examine the prevalence and correlates of cervical cancer screening among Cameroonian women using current data that is nationally representative of reproductive-age women. Methods We used secondary data from the 2018 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey. Summary statistics were used for the sample description. We employed the Firth logistic regression using the “firthlogit” command in STATA-14 to perform the bivariate analyses between the outcome variable and each of the explanatory variables. Given that all the explanatory variables were statistically significant correlates, they were all adjusted for in a multivariable analysis. All analyses were performed in STATA version 14. Results The proportion of Cameroonian women who have ever screened for cervical cancer continue to remain low at approximately 4%. In the adjusted model, women with the following sociodemographic characteristics have a higher likelihood of undergoing cervical cancer screening: ever undergone HIV screening (AOR = 4.446, 95% CI: 2.475, 7.986), being 24–34 years (AOR = 2.233, 95% CI: 1.606, 3.103) or 35–44 years (AOR = 4.008, 95% CI: 2.840, 5.657) or at least 45 years old (AOR = 5.895, 95% CI: 3.957, 8.784), having attained a post-secondary education (AOR = 1.849, 95% CI: 1.032, 3.315), currently (AOR = 1.551, 95% CI: 1.177, 2.043) or previously married (AOR = 1.572, 95% CI: 1.073, 2.302), dwelling in the richest household (AOR = 4.139, 95% CI: 1.769, 9.682), and residing in an urban area (AOR = 1.403, 95% CI: 1.004,1.960). Except for the North-West region, residing in some five regions, compared to Yaounde, was negatively associated with cervical cancer screening. Conclusion Cervical cancer screening programs and policies should target Cameroonian women who are younger, less educated, and those in poor households and rural areas.

Towards a cervical cancer-free future: women’s healthcare decision making and cervical cancer screening uptake in sub-Saharan Africa

“…For this study, those that responded ‘don’t know’ were dropped as the interest was on those who provided definite responses. The utilisation and coding were informed by literature 18…”

“…In SSA, several factors including increasing age, higher education, higher household wealth index and being employed have been documented to be associated with increased uptake of screening for cervical cancer 16–21. It has also been documented that staying in rural areas, low level of awareness of services, cost of accessing services and the distance to health facility reduces the uptake of cervical cancer screening 16–19.…”

Training, Supervision, and Competence Assessment of Cameroonian Health Care Providers Using HPV Self-Sampling, Triage by Visual Inspection, and Treatment by Thermal Ablation in a Single Visit

“…One of the constraints preventing the WHO target being met is the lack of adequately trained and qualified staff and physicians ( 6 ). In Cameroon, cervical cancer screening uptake is still very low, with only 4% of women having ever been screened, mostly owing to low awareness in the community and difficulties in accessing screening services within the public health system ( 6 , 10 , 11 ). The WHO has proposed decentralization and “task shifting” from physicians to other health care providers (HCPs) (e.g., midwives or nurses) to scale up cervical cancer prevention in resource-limited settings ( 6 ).…”

Determinantes de la Demanda de Servicios de Prevención Secundaria del cáncer cervicouterino en Perú

“…Las variables referidas a lugar donde viven las mujeres del Perú señalan que, vivir en zonas deprimidas económicamente, más complejas geográficamente y más alejadas de la urbe lleva a una menor demanda, coincidente con las desigualdades de integración regional y territorial, con limitados accesos a mercados, entre ellos los servicios de salud. Los resultados de ruralidad y menor desarrollo asociadas a menor demanda PAP son consistentes con los hallados en Zimbabwe (27) , Estados Unidos (25) y Camerún (28). Y en ellas, no debe dejarse de lado los criterios subjetivos para la no demanda.…”