Impact of health education intervention on knowledge and perception of cervical cancer and screening for women in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: The burden of cervical cancer continues to rise in developing economies. Women in the sub-Saharan African region have higher chances of developing cervical cancer due to a greater prevalence of related risk factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of health education intervention on cervical cancer and screening perceptions of women in the Komenda, Edina, Eguafo, and Abirem (K.E.E.A) District in the Central Region of Ghana. METHODS: A non-equivalent control-group design was used to select church women; 396 in the intervention group and 386 in the control group, aged 11 to 70 years in the K.E.E.A District in the Central Region of Ghana. Data was collected via a validated structured interview schedule and analysed using the paired - and independent-samples t-tests, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: A comparison of the mean differences between the pre-post-test scores for the intervention and control groups showed a statistically significant difference for knowledge of cervical cancer (t = 6.22, df = 780, p = 0.001), knowledge of cervical cancer screening (t = 5.96, df = 780, p = 0.001), perceived seriousness (t = 3.36, df = 780, p = 0.001), perceived benefits (t = 9.19, df = 780, p = 0.001), and perceived barriers (t = 3.19, df = 780, p = 0.001). However, perceived susceptibility for the intervention group reduced, evidenced by a decrease in the mean (mean = - 0.12) compared to the control group (mean = 0.93) and this was statistically significant (t = 2.72, df = 780, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Health education interventions are critical in improving knowledge and perceptions, and increasing self-efficacy of women about cervical cancer and screening.

PTPN22 and uterine leiomyomas.

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that the development of uterine leiomyomas is positively influenced by an immune system in a chronically inflammatory state and that a lower level of regulating T cell (Treg cells) would play a central role. Since it has been suggested that the W620 variant of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) decreases the number of Treg cells, we investigated a possible relationship between PTPN22 polymorphism and uterine leiomyomas. STUDY DESIGN: We studied 203 white women from Rome who were hospitalized for symptomatic leiomyomas requiring surgical intervention. These women were considered in a previous paper regarding the relationship between ACP1 and dimension of leiomyomas. As controls we studied 355 healthy women from the same population with comparable age and without clinical evidence of leiomyomas. All women gave written informed consent to participate to the study. Chi square test of independence and T-test for difference between means were performed by SPSS package. RESULTS: Considering the whole sample, a borderline association between PTPN22 and leiomyomas was observed: the *C/*T genotype is more frequent in cases than in controls. This association is marked and statistically significant in younger women only. The main diameter of tumor is significantly greater in *C/*T than in *C/*C women. This effect is present in younger women only. The *C/*T genotype also shows a higher tendency to intramural localization, but no effect of age is observed upon this association. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest a positive effect of *C/*T genotype on susceptibility to leiomyomas in younger women. In these women a *C/*T genotype favors the growth of leiomyomas.