Parity and Illiteracy as Risk Factors of Cervical Cancers in Viet Nam.

The aim of the present study was to examine the risk of cervical cancers with reference to multiparity and illiteracy in Ho Chi Minh City where this neoplasm is a very serious problem but no reports have documented its risk factors. The 5,034 cervical cancer cases treated from 1989-94 in the Central Oncology Clinic of Ho Chi Minh City were derived from published sources. The observed number of children born and the education level among cervical cancer cases were compared with those in the reference group, the general population based on the results of the national census in 1989 and the inter-census in 1994. Among cervical cancer patients, the number of children born was in a wide range from 1-20 children with the mean number being 6.6 children per patient. Most of the patients finished primary or some primary school (54.9%), followed by the illiteracy group (30.0%). Multiparity was found to increase the risk of cervical cancer (RR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.30-1.32). Illiteracy was also found to be associated with an elevated risk (RR = 3.43, 95 % CI = 2.85-4.14). The significant increase in risk of cervical cancers linked to to multi parity and illiteracy is a very important finding in the south of Viet Nam, where cancer is a very serious problem and there is a lack of information on which to base primary and secondary prevention.efforts.