The HIV profile of patients with invasive cervical cancer at Harare's Central hospitals

Abstract

A cross sectional, descriptive study of Invasive Cervical Cancer(ICC) patients managed at Harare’s 2 central hospitals. The association of HIV with ICC has been investigated by several studies, however there is no published local data on patients with both disease entities. This study aimed to produce data that would provide a better understanding of the magnitude of the problem of ICC and HIV currently, in order to inform policy and identify further research potential. One hundred and ten women were recruited between February and December of 2013 and data was obtained using a standard questionnaire by participant interview and extracted from treatment records. The main findings were that 41.8% of the participants were HIV seropositive. The HIV positive patients were significantly younger than the HIV negative patients, with a mean age of 42.7, s.d= 8.0 years versus mean age of 53.0 years, s.d=12.7 years(p<0.001). Of the HIV positive participants 35(76.1%) were on HAART. The majority(63%) of HIV positive participants had CD4 cell counts greater than 350 cells/ul. HIV positive patients were more likely to have advanced disease, that is FIGO stage 2b or greater O.R 1.23(C.I 0.41-3.68). This study found a large proportion of ICC patients to be HIV positive. The majority of HIV positive participants with ICC were also accessing HAART implying a possible missed opportunity for screening. Therefore provision for screening may be considered within the setting of opportunistic infections clinics.