Abstract
BackgroundGlobally, cancer is generally recognized as a developmental threat yet most countries in Africa lack capacity to diagnose cancer especially gynecological cancers resulting in late detection and poor outcomes. However, most studies on gynecological cancers in Africa tend to focus on cervical cancer compared to the other gynecological cancers. Therefore, this scoping review will aim to describe the existing literature on the epidemiological burden of ovarian, endometrial, vaginal, and vulva cancers, their risk factors, and potential screening methods/techniques in Africa to identify priority research gaps for further research to inform health policy decisions.MethodsThe framework promulgated by Arksey and O’Malley and improved by Levac et al. will be used as a guide for this scoping review. A comprehensive search for relevant published studies in PubMed, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect with no date limitation to the last search date. The database search strategy will include keywords, Boolean operators, and medical subject heading terms. We will additionally consult the WHO/IARC website, IHME/Global Burden of Disease Study. A snowball approach will also be used to search the reference list of all included studies to obtain relevant papers for possible inclusion in this review. We will include articles that involve African countries, focused on ovarian, endometrial, vaginal, and vulva cancers, their risk factors, and potential screening methods/techniques in any language. We will exclude studies on cervical cancer and other cancers as well as review articles. The abstracts and full-text selection will be conducted by two independent reviewers using this review’s eligibility criteria as a guide. All the review selection tools, and the data extraction form will be pilot tested for accuracy and consistency. The data will be organized into thematic areas, summarized and the results communicated narratively.DiscussionIt is anticipated that this review will reveal important literature gaps to guide future research to inform health policy decisions about ovarian, endometrial, and rare gynecological neoplasms in Africa. This review’s findings will be disseminated via peer review journals, conferences, and other social media such Twitter and LinkedIn.
Highlights
Cancer is generally recognized as a developmental threat yet most countries in Africa lack capacity to diagnose cancer especially gynecological cancers resulting in late detection and poor outcomes
We propose to conduct a scoping review to describe evidence about gynecological cancers in Africa focusing on the epidemiological burden of ovarian, endometrial, vaginal, and vulva cancers, their risk factors, and potential screening methods/techniques
We anticipate that this review will reveal important literature gaps to inform future research to inform health policy decisions about ovarian, endometrial, and rare gynecological neoplasms in Africa
Summary
Overview of the study Scoping reviews aim to map rapidly the key concepts underpinning a research area and the main sources and types of evidence available. This review will adopt the PRISMA flow chart [22, 23] (Fig. 1) to account for the articles at each stage of the screening Inclusion criteria This will include the following: Studies that involved African countries Studies that include human participants (women) Studies that include ovarian, endometrial, vaginal, and vulva cancers Studies reporting on the epidemiological burden (morbidity, incidence, prevalence, and mortality) of ovarian, endometrial, vaginal, and vulva cancers Studies that reported findings on the risk factors of ovarian, endometrial, vaginal, and vulva cancers Primary study designs (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies). The data extraction form will include the following: Author and publication year Study title Aim/objective of the study Geographical location of the study (country) Type of study design Study setting (such as facility-based, communitybased, others) Number of study participants Mean age/range of study population (women) Targeted gynecological cancer Burden (incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality) Reported risk factors per the type of gynecological cancer investigated Potential screening techniques/methods/. The sub-themes will be collated and structured around the following main themes: the epidemiological burden
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