Utilization of cervical cancer screening and associated factors among women in Debremarkos town, Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia: Community based cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the most common type of malignancy among all malignancies for women worldwide with 266 000 deaths every year. Even though there is a proven importance of cervical cancer screening, the death of women due to cervical cancer in Ethiopia is high. We, therefore, did this study to investigate the utilization of cancer screening and its associated factors among women in Debremarkos town, Amhara region, Ethiopia.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among women from 30-49 years in Debremarkos town, from July 1 to August 30, 2018. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 822 women in the study. We used EPI info version 7 for data entry and SPSS version 24 software for cleaning and analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with the utilization of cervical cancer screening. Variables with a p-value of less than 0.05 were taken as significant variables.

Result: The study revealed that 44 (5.4%) of women have been screened for cervical cancer. Women's age [AOR:3.126(1.246,7.845)], marital status (AOR:3.41(1.299,8.972)], educational status(secondary education level [AOR: 4.578(95% CI: 1.19, 17.65)] and College and above education level [AOR:7.27,95%CI: 2.07,25.513)]), started sexual intercourse for the first time below 16 years[AOR:3.021(1.84,4.97)], history of multiple sexual partners [AOR:2.51(1.040, 6.06)], history of sexually transmitted disease [AOR:4.04(1.68, 9.72),], knowledge on cervical cancer screening [AOR:4.02(2.07,7.77)] and attitude towards cervical cancer screening [AOR:3.23(2.52,4.12)] were significant factors for utilization of cervical cancer screening.

Conclusion: This study showed the magnitude of the utilization of cervical cancer screening is very low. Women's age, marital status, educational status, age at first sex history of multiple sexual partners and sexually transmitted disease, knowledge and attitude were important factors of screening. Therefore, intervention programs that are aimed at improving cervical cancer screening practice among women should focus on the identified factors.