title: Risk factors for cancer cervix among rural women of a hilly state: a case-control study.
abstract: In Himachal Pradesh, cancer cervix is a major public health problem since it ranks as the number one female cancer. A case-control study of 226 newly diagnosed, histopathologically confirmed cases of cancer cervix and equal number of matched controls was conducted at Regional Cancer Center, Himachal Pradesh during the period from July 2008 to October 2009 with the objective to study the common factors associated with cancer cervix. Univariate analysis identified 10 risk factors associated significantly with the disease. On multiple logistic regression, however, only seven risk factors were found to be associated significantly with the disease. These were: Age at birth of first child, spacing between two children, age at marriage, literacy, socioeconomic status, multiparity, and poor genital hygiene. Risk factors such as poor genital hygiene, age at birth of first child <19 years, early marriage, illiteracy, multiparity, and low socioeconomic status were highly prevalent in the study subjects and were found to be significantly associated with cancer cervix.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thakur
authors.forename: Bhupender
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Anmol
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Raman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chauhan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001721:Birth Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D058980:Information Literacy; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010298:Parity; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016387:Women's Health