Page 207 - GHES-3-1

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability
Cervical cancer screening in Maroua

the patients through an information leaflet and answered Table 1. Distribution of participants by sociodemographic
any questions they might have to ensure adequate characteristics
understanding. When the patient consented to participate Variables Terms and Absolute Relative
in the study, the informed consent form was given to her conditions value frequency (%)
for signature, after which a questionnaire was administered Age group (years) 25 – 34 112 29.8
face-to-face, and those who refused were considered non- 35 – 44 148 39.4
respondents. Data were collected anonymously to preserve
confidentiality, with each participant identified by a unique 45+ 116 30.9
code. Marital status Single 107 28.5
Married 243 64.6
2.6. Data processing and analysis Divorced 17 4.52
The data collected using the Kobo Collect application were Widowed 9 2.39
compiled and analyzed using Rstudio software version 4.2.4. Profession Student 81 21.5
Microsoft Office Excel 2013 was also used to create the Informal sector 89 23.7
various tables. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all the
variables considered. The analysis considered one dependent Private sector 47 12.5
variable (cervical cancer screening) and several independent Public sector 76 20.2
variables divided into four main groups (sociodemographic Housekeeper 83 22.1
characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices). The Religion Polytheistic 75 19.9
association between dependent and independent variables Christian 194 51.6
was determined through binary logistic regression, and Muslims 107 28.5
all variables with p < 0.05 in the bivariate analysis were Area of residence Rural 65 17.3
candidates for the multivariate analysis to control for
confounding factors and identify independent predictors Urban 311 82.7
of cervical cancer screening. The indicators were estimated Education level Out of school 14 3.72
with an alpha (α) significance level of 0.05, and associations Primary 56 14.9
were considered significant at p < 0.05. Secondary 171 45.5
Superior 135 35.9
3. Results
Data were collected over 2 months from April 4 to May 26,
2023, during which 532 patients attending gynecological
consultations at the Maroua Regional Hospital were
recruited. Of these participants, 376 consented to participate
in the study, representing a participation rate of 70.68%.
3.1. Participant characteristics
Table 1 shows the sociodemographic characteristics of
the study participants. Of the 376 women surveyed, the
most represented age group was between 35 and 44 years
(39.4%), with an average age of 39.21 ± 10.45 years. Most
participants were married (64.6%), worked in the informal
sector (23.7%), were Christian (51.6%), lived in urban
areas (82.7%), and had a secondary education (45.5%).

3.2. Prevalence of cervical cancer screening among
women attending gynecological consultations at Figure 1. Frequency of cervical cancer screening
the Maroua Regional Hospital
Figure 1 shows the prevalence of cervical cancer screening 3.3. Sociodemographic factors associated with
among women attending gynecological consultations at cervical cancer screening among women at the
the Maroua Regional Hospital. As shown, 9.3% of women Maroua Regional Hospital
had already undergone screening, and 90.7% had never Table 2 presents the results of the bivariate analyses
done so. of sociodemographic factors associated with cervical

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 199 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.4080