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Background: Low participation in screening and poor follow-up are major challenges in implementing population based screening in developing countries. Determinants of participation in a community-based organized cervical cancer screening program are discussed here. Objectives: The objectives were to study factors determining compliance of women for cervical cancer screening in an urban low socioeconomic setting. Methodology: Community-based service program was conducted for screening uterine cervix cancers with a visual inspection of the cervix on the application of 5% acetic acid by trained primary health workers. The process involved the selection of clusters, household surveys, health education, and screening of eligible women for uterine cervix cancer. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify determinants of participation in cervical cancer screening. Results: A total of 138,383 population were surveyed, of which 21,422 eligible women were contacted and 16,424 (82.50%) complied for screening. According to the results of univariate and multivariate analysis, women belonging to the age group of 30–39 (80.69%), literate women with school level or education up to Senior College (78.97% and 80.86%) (odds ratio [OR], 1.323; P ≤ 0.001) and (OR, 1.402; P ≤ 0.001), belonging to Hindu religion (77.20%), speaking Marathi (77.07%), and with a family history of cancer (81.93%) had higher participation for screening, while women belonging to the Muslim community (73.95%) (OR, 0.743; P ≤ 0.001), speaking other than Marathi and Hindi language (73%) (OR, 0.872; P = 0.017), illiterate women (70.71%), and graduate women (70.78%) had lower participation. Conclusion: High compliance can be achieved by providing good-quality health education and setting up of screening clinics in vicinity of participating women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of tobacco, especially smokeless variety, is common and culturally accepted among Indian women. Hence, oral cavity cancers rank as the fourth most common cancers among Indian women. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to study factors determining compliance of women for oral cancer screening in a population-based program in Mumbai and to create awareness among women regarding ill effects of tobacco and importance of oral cancer screening. Materials and Methods: This is a community-based organized service program for awareness and screening of oral cavity cancers among women residing in low socioeconomic areas of Mumbai, India. Screening was conducted by oral visual inspection by trained primary health workers (PHWs). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of participation in oral cancer screening. Results: 138,383 population was surveyed, out of which 13,492 eligible women were enlisted for oral cancer screening. Among these, 12,495 were contacted and 11,895 (95.12%) women participated in a cancer awareness program and 11,768 (94.18%) participated in oral cancer screening. According to results of multivariate logistic regression analysis, women belonging to Hindu religion 94.57%, with mother tongue Marathi 94.76%, and with family history of cancer 95.84% complied significantly higher to oral cancer screening as compared to other women. Conclusion: This program has assisted in identifying predictors of compliance to oral cavity screening. Furthermore, it demonstrates that good compliance can be achieved through multiple household visits, personal invitation during camps, organizing well-planned Health Education Program, and the use of simple, low-cost visual inspection test performed by trained PHWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women globally and also in India. Early detection by screening is likely to reduce mortality and improve survival. To study the determinants of compliance to BC screening and referral by women in a community based BC screening programme in urban India. Methods: A community-based one-time cancer screening programme, implemented in the urban slums of Mumbai, India. The programme involves screening for breast cancer by Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) performed by trained primary health workers (PHWs), referral of screen-positive women to the nodal hospital for further investigations, confirmation of diagnosis and treatment. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis in SPSS version 16 was used. Results: The compliance to screening, referral and treatment were 90.58%, 74.22% and 100% respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrate literate women, having family history of cancer, with tobacco habit, being treated for breast abnormalities, being ever pregnant and having history of contraceptive use were positive predictors while, women belonging to Muslim religion or speaking mother-tongue other than Marathi or Hindi were negative predictors of participation to screening. Educational status was the only significant predictor of compliance to referral. Screen-positive women with education of secondary school level or more were more likely to comply with referral. Conclusions: The programme ensured good compliance with screening, referral and treatment indicating feasibility and acceptability of CBE based BC screening programme by the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the efficacy of screening by low-cost technology in down-staging and reducing mortality due to breast and cervix cancer. Methods: The present trial is a community-based, cluster randomised controlled cohort study on screening for breast and cervix cancers (clinical breast examination and visual inspection of the cervix after application of 4% acetic acid). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses are conducted to identify the predictors of participation in screening. Results: The average compliance is 71.43 and 64.93% for breast and cervix cancer screening, respectively, with the highest compliance in round 1. At the end of 3 screening rounds, 94 and 84% of the eligible women were screened at least once for breast and cervix cancer, respectively. Younger women, women from other than Hindu and Muslim communities, school level-educated women, women belonging to lower-income families, Marathi-speaking women, married women and women who had previously consulted for any breast or gynaecological complaints had higher compliance to participation in screening. Conclusions: Good compliance rates to screening have been demonstrated in the trial, reflecting acceptance of the study by the society, which has implications while translating the trial into a programme. Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]