Abstract 113: Burden of Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer among Women Living In East Africa: Analysis of the Latest Demographic Health Surveys Conducted between 2014 And 2017

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: In East Africa, cervical cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality amongst women diagnosed with cancer in East Africa. We aimed to describe the burden of risk factors for cervical cancer among women of reproductive age in five East African countries to inform the design of interventions to the reduce exposure of women to them. Methods: For each country, using STATA13 and sampling weights, we analysed Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets conducted between 2014 and 2017 in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The surveys followed a two-stage cluster random sampling procedure. We included women aged 15 to 49 years and considered six risk factors (tobacco use, body mass index, age at first sexual intercourse, age at first birth, number of children and hormonal contraceptive use). Poisson regression was used to determine the demographics associated with the number of risk factors a woman had. Results: From 93,616 women from the countries, each country had more than half younger than 30 years of age with majority living in rural areas. Pooled proportion of women with at least one risk factor was 89% (95% Confidence interval, CI 87% - 91%). Living in a rural area in Burundi (Adjusted Incidence Rate Ration, aIRR 0.94; 95% CI: 0.9–0.99; p = 0.019) and Rwanda [aIRR 0.92; 95% CI: 0.88 - 0.96; p < 0.001] was associated with a lower number of risk factors among women compared with living in an urban area. In all the countries, women with complete secondary education were associated with the lowest number of risk factors for cervical cancer compared with those living in urban areas. Conclusion: Our study revealed a high burden of risk factors for cervical cancer in East Africa with a high proportion of women having at least one risk factor. Citation Format: Derrick Abila, Provia Ainembabazi, Sulaiman Wasukira, Henry Wabinga. Burden of Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer among Women Living In East Africa: Analysis of the Latest Demographic Health Surveys Conducted between 2014 And 2017 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 9th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; Global Cancer Research and Control: Looking Back and Charting a Path Forward; 2021 Mar 10-11. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2021;30(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 113.