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Factors influencing women to participate in cervical cancer screening by providing menstrual pads: A population-based study from rural areas of Maharashtra state, India
Atul Budukh1, Amita Maheshwari2, Sonali Bagal1, Arpit Singh1, Kedar Deodhar3, Nandkumar Panse4, Vrushali Palyekar5, Rajesh Dikshit1, Rajendra Badwe6
1 Centre for Cancer Epidemiology, Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 2 Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 3 Department of Pathology, Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 4 Department of Rural Cancer Registry, Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Hospital, Barshi, Maharashtra, India 5 Department of Clinical Research, National Institute for Research and Reproductive Health, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India 6 Department of Surgical Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Correspondence Address:
Atul Budukh, Centre for Cancer Epidemiology, Tata Memorial Centre, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None DOI: 10.4103/ijc.IJC_910_19 PMID: 34380839
Background: India accounts for a quarter of the world cervical cancer burden. Cervical cancer is highly preventable. However, low level of participating women in screening is one of the major issues. The aim of this work was to study the factors that influence women to participate in cervical cancer screening by providing menstrual pads for human papillomavirus (HPV) testing.
Methods: Menstrual clothes were collected from two different populations from the rural areas of Maharashtra state for HPV testing to screen for cervical cancer. For this study, out of 945 participated women, 557 (58.9%) provided their menstrual pads. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
Results: The probability of providing the menstrual pads was high among the women who were highly educated compared to those with less education (OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.0–1.9), having mobile phone facilities as compared to those with no mobile phones (OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.0–2.0), who were using new cloths as menstrual pads compared to those who did not use the same (OR: 8.5; 95% CI: 5.0–14.3), who did not have tobacco habit as compared to those who had tobacco habit (OR: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.1–1.9) and in the village where health worker was stationed as compared to the village where health worker was not stationed (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.4–2.5).
Conclusion: Factors including health worker availability, using mobile phones for communication and high education level facilitate women's participation. To improve the participation, there is need to apply special strategies for older age group, less educated women and women having tobacco habit.
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