Assessment of Factors That Lead to Delay for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cervical Cancer Among Patients Attending Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital Radiotherapy Center Addis Ababa Ethiopia
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Date
2017-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Cervical cancer is the second commonest cancer and leading cause of
mortality in Ethiopia. The main reason for this is delay, in this study delay as classified in
Primary (patient) and secondary (system) on diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer.
Objective: To assess factors that lead to delay for diagnoses and treatment of cervical
cancer among patients attending Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital Radiotherapy Center Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017.
Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was conducted with sample size of 422.
Data was entered using Epi data version 3.1 and analyzed by stastical package for social
sciences (SPSS). Bivariate and multivariate analysis was carried out to see the association
between independent and the outcome variables.
Result: In this study 422 women were participated but 12 women were excluded due to
incomplete information so the response rate was 410(97.1%). The mean age of women was
50 years (SD ±11.5). Half of the participants were 205(50%) illiterate and 234(66.3%) of
them income were <500 Birr. With regard to prevalence of delay, 286(70%) were delay
cases as having primary delay (> 90 days) with the reasons 274(80%) of assumed the
symptoms heal by itself and 342(83.4%) were due to lack of awareness about cervical
cancer. In this study 354(86.3%) were having secondary delay (>30 days) with the reason
of 346(84.4%) were long waiting time. Factors that were the predictor of primary delay
include; unemployed, low socioeconomic status, traditional hillers, fear and embarrassment
at P-value <0.05 and factors that were predictor of secondary delay were advanced stage of
cervical cancer during diagnoses, long waiting time and inaccessibility for services at p-
value <0.05.
Conclusion and recommendations: - In this study high prevalence of primary and
secondary delay were noticed. High level of illiteracy, low socioeconomic status, lack of
awareness and traditional hillers were factors that lead to primary delay. Absence of a
routine screening program, lack of early detection and treatment interventions were
accountable for secondary delay. Raising awareness and improving health service should
be promoted and advocated to decrease the usual delay of cervical cancer activities.
Key words: cervical cancer, diagnosis, treatment, delay, primary, secondary, Ethiopia
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Keywords
Cervical cancer, Diagnosis, Treatment, Delay, Primary