Abstract
Background: Cervical cancer is an important public health problem worldwide. In Nigeria women seeking cancer treatment see cost of uptake as a challenge. The objective of this study is to determine the determinants of delay in seeking cervical cancer treatment and economic burden among patients at selected facilities in Imo state. Methods: A hospital based descriptive cross sectional study was employed and a probability based multi-stage simple random sampling procedure was employed for the study in recruiting a total of 302 patients who participated in the study. A pretested structured questionnaire was used and statistical package for social sciences version 23.0 was used in the analysis of the study. Results: 32.6% (98) of the respondents were between 56-60 years of age and 19.5% (59) earned between ₦31,000-₦60,000. 57.1% of the women accepted to uptake cervical cancer treatment and 62.8% of the respondents confirmed they can afford to uptake cervical cancer treatment options. The study revealed that 26.7% of the women were able to afford supportive palliative care as a form of cervical cancer treatment. There was a statistically significant relationship between age (χ2 =12, df=4, p= 0.0035), occupation (χ2 = 0.321, df=5, p=0.00275), income level (χ2 = 8.57, df=3, p=0.0092), education level (χ2 = 17, df=2, p=0.0327) and uptake of cervical cancer treatment. Also, financial constraints (p=0.0031), attitude of health providers (p=0.0074), distance to facility (p=0.0015) and lack of information (p= 0.0038) showed significant association with the economic cost towards seeking cervical cancer treatment. Conclusion: Several demographic and economic factors contribute to the determinants of delay in seeking cervical cancer treatment and economic burden among patients at selected facilities in Imo state. Awareness campaigns must provide accurate information so that women can make informed choices.
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