Article Sidebar
Keywords:
Article Details
Articles published in the Ghana Medical Journal may not be published elsewhere without the consent of the publishers. Request for consent for reproduction of material published in the Ghana Medical Journal should be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief. The publisher of this Journal reserves the right of copyright of all articles published in the Journal. It should also be understood by all authors that articles approved for publication in the journal are also deemed for publication online by the publisher.
Ghana Medical Journal is an Open Access journal and applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on the Creative Commons website (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) to articles and other content published in the Journal.
Main Article Content
Clinic visits and cervical cancer screening in Accra
Abstract
Design: A cross-sectional study
Methods: A representative sample of women in Accra, Ghana was interviewed and the clinical and demographic factors influencing cervical cancer screening was assessed.
Results: Out of 1193 women with complete data, only 25 (2.1%) had ever had a Pap smear performed though 171 (14.3%) had their last outpatient clinic visit for either a gynaecological consultation or a regular check
up. Simple logistic regression showed that a high educational level, high socioeconomic status and a history over the past month of postmenopausal or intermenstrual bleeding significantly increased the odds of ever having a pap smear. Neither monthly income nor last
clinic visit for a gynaecological consultation or regular check up increased the odds of having a pap smear. Multiple logistic regression showed that a high educational level and experiencing postmenopausal or intermenstrual
bleeding were the most important determinants of ever having a Pap smear.
Conclusion: While we wait for a national program for cervical cancer screening, there is a need for clinicians to put more individual effort into ensuring that asymptomatic women are screened for cervical cancer.
