Sociodemographic Characteristics of participants
A total of 337 women aged 25 to 65 years were enrolled in the study with a mean age of 36.7±9.1 years. The response rate of the study participants was 100%. Among the study participants, 153 (45.4%) were in the age group 25 to 35 years. Of the total of the respondents, 314 (92.2%) were Orthodox Christian followers followed by protestants. Among the study participants, 328 (97.3%) of them were Amhara and followed by Oromo. Of those respondents, 136 (40.4) and 201 (59.6%) of them resided in rural and urban areas respectively. The majority of 254 (75.4%) were married and 191 (56.7%) were housewives and 135 (40.1%) did not receive formal education (Table 1).
Reproductive health characteristics
Among study participants, 229 (68%) of them used contraceptive methods. Of the participants who used contraceptives, 28 (12.3%), 61 (26.6%), 93 (40.6 %), 47 (20.5%) were used intrauterine devices (IUCD), implants, injectables, and pills, respectively. The majority of 183 (54.3%) of the study respondents had an irregular menstrual history in terms of menstrual regularity. 75 respondents reported having experienced postcoital bleeding in the past, whereas the remaining respondents had no such history. The majority of the study participants had given birth to more than three children with a mean number of parity 4.13 + 2.5 children (Table 2).
Lifestyle and Sexual Behavior
Only 45 (13.4%) of the participants in this study had ever undergone a cervical cancer screening. 7 (2.1%) of the respondents had ever smoked and 22 (6.5%) of them regularly drank alcohol. One hundred and fifty of the respondents had their first sexual intercourse before the age of 18, while the remaining 187 (55.5%) did so when they were at least 18 years old with the mean age at their first sexual intercourse being 17.01 ± 3.5 years. Of the study participants, 265 (78.6%) never used condoms throughout their lifetime. A total of 103 (30.6%) of the study participants had a history of STI, and 113 (33.5%) of them had a husband who had a history of STI. 54 (16%) of the respondents who underwent HIV testing were HIV seropositive. Regarding several sexual encounters, 180 respondents (53.5%) reported having more than two sexual partners, while the rest did not (Table 3).
Prevalence of oncogenic HPV infection
The prevalence of oncogenic HPV infection among women screened for cervical cancer was 14.2% (95% CI: 10.7% - 18.1%).
Factors Associated with oncogenic HPV infection
Variables yielding P<0.25 after bivariate analysis were deemed confounding factors, and they were reanalyzed in multivariate logistic regression to ascertain their association with oncogenic HPV infection. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, the variables yielding P<0.05 were significantly associated with the presence of oncogenic HPV infection.
Bivariate logistic regression
The bivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age, rural residence, level of education, contraceptives use, starting sexual intercourse at less than eighteen years, number of births, abortion, partners' history of STI, history of partner STI, HIV positive serostatus, having two or more lifetime sexual partner significant association with high-risk HPV infection (Table 5).
Multivariate Logistic Regression
As crealy stated in table 5, all variables in the table have a P value of less than 0.25 in bivariate logistic regression and are reanalyzed in multivariate logistic regression analysis. Controlling for the effect of confounders age group 56-65 years, starting sexual intercourse at less than 18 years, STI of women, being HIV seropositive and having multiple sexual partners were found to be significantly associated with the presence of oncogenic HPV infection.
Women in the age group from 56 to 65 years were 7.9 times more likely to have high-risk HPV infection compared to the age group of 25 to 35 years (AOR = 7.91, 95% CI: 1.95-32.09). Regarding early initiation of sexual intercourse, those women stats sex before age less than 18 were 5.3 times riskier to develop oncogenic HPV infection than their counterparts. Women who had a history of STI were 3.52 times more likely to have a high-risk HPV infection as compared to those who had no history of STI (AOR = 3.52, 95% CI: 1.27-9.72). Women who had HIV-positive serostatus were 6.8 times more likely to have a high-risk HPV infection compared to HIV negatives (AOR = 6.8, 95% CI: 1.99-23.54). Women who had two and more lifetime sexual partners were 4.37 times more likely to develop high-risk HPV infection compared to those who had less than two sexual partners (AOR = 4.37, 95% CI: 1.15-17.3) Table 4.