Male partner involvement in reducing loss to follow-up after cervical cancer screening in Uganda.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of male partner involvement in reducing loss to follow-up among women in Uganda referred for colposcopy after a positive cervical cancer-screening test.


METHODS
In 2 family-planning/postnatal clinics at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, 5094 women were screened for cervical lesions. Those who screened positive were referred for colposcopy; half were allocated to the intervention group and half to the control group. In the intervention group, information about the screening findings and a request to assist their partner in attending the next examination were sent to male partners. In the control group, a standard service was provided, which did not include a letter to the male partner. Logistic regression models were applied to calculate the probability of women returning for colposcopy.


RESULTS
Of the 834 women referred, 209 (25%) did not return for colposcopy: 143/419 (34%) from the control group and 66/415 (16%) from the intervention group. Women in the intervention group were more likely to return (odds ratio 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.9-3.9).


CONCLUSIONS
Male partner involvement significantly reduced loss to follow-up among women referred for colposcopy.
Mutyaba
Twaha
T
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. tmutyaba@yahoo.com
Mirembe
Florence
F
Sandin
Sven
S
Weiderpass
Elisabete
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003127:Colposcopy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D014454:Uganda; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult