Association of body mass index with early age at diagnosis of endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia.

OBJECTIVE: Elevated body mass index (BMI) is a risk factor for endometrioid endometrial cancer and its precursor, endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia (EIN). Our objective was to describe the association between BMI and age at EIN diagnosis. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with EIN from 2010 to 2020 at a large academic medical center. Patient characteristics were stratified by menopausal status and compared using a chi-square or t-test. We used linear regression to determine the parameter estimate (ß) and 95% confidence interval for the association between BMI and age at diagnosis. RESULTS: We identified 513 patients with EIN; 503 (98%) had complete medical records. Premenopausal patients were more likely to be nulliparous and to have polycystic ovary syndrome than postmenopausal patients (both p ≤ 0.001). Postmenopausal patients were more likely to have hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and hyperlipidemia (all p ≤ 0.02). There was a significant linear association between BMI and age at diagnosis in premenopausal patients (ß = -0.19 (95% CI: -0.27, -0.10). In premenopausal patients, for every 1-unit increase in BMI, age at diagnosis decreased by 0.19 years. No association was observed in postmenopausal patients. CONCLUSIONS: In a large cohort of patients with EIN, increasing BMI was associated with an earlier age at diagnosis in premenopausal patients. This data suggests consideration of endometrial sampling in younger patients with known risk factors for excess estrogen exposure.

Feasibility and acceptability of an HPV self-testing strategy: lessons from a research context to assess for ability to implement into primary care at a national level in Botswana.

Background: The WHO strategy for cervical cancer elimination strives to achieve 70% coverage with high-performance cervical screening. While few low- and middle-income countries have achieved this, high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) self-testing creates the possibility to rapidly upscale access to high-performance cervical screening across resource settings. However, effective hrHPV screening requires linkage to follow-up, which has been variable in prior studies. This study developed and tested an implementation strategy aimed at improving screening and linkage to follow-up care in South East District in Botswana. Methods: This study performed primary hrHPV self-testing; those with positive results were referred for a triage visit. Withdrawals for any reason, loss-to follow-up between hrHPV test and triage visit, and number of call attempts to give hrHPV results were also documented. Acceptability of the program to patients was measured as the proportion of patients who completed a triage visit when indicated, meeting the a priori threshold of 80%. Feasibility was defined as the proportion of participants receiving the results and attending follow-up. To assess the associations between participant characteristics and loss-to-follow-up we used log-binomial regressions to estimate risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Enrollment of 3,000 women occurred from February 2021 to August 2022. In total, 10 participants withdrew and an additional 33 were determined ineligible after consent, leaving a final cohort of 2,957 participants who underwent self-swab hrHPV testing. Half (50%) of participants tested positive for hrHPV and nearly all (98%) of participants received their hrHPV results, primarily via telephone.  Few calls to participants were required to communicate results: 2,397 (82%) required one call, 386 (13%) required 2 calls, and only 151 (5%) required 3-5 calls. The median time from specimen collection to participant receiving results was 44 days (IQR, 27-65). Of all hrHPV positive participants, 1,328 (90%) attended a triage visit. Discussion: In a large cohort we had low loss-to-follow-up of 10%, indicating that the strategy is acceptable. Telephonic results reporting was associated with high screening completion, required few calls to participants, and supports the feasibility of hrHPV self-testing in primary care followed by interval triage.