• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.483-489
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• 2007

This study was performed to investigate dietary habits, and to evaluate the relationship between nutritional status and certain blood parameters in premenopausal and postmenopausal women living in Daejeon. Adult Korean females(n=110) that had visited the Health Promotion Center of Eulji University Hospital were analyzed. We examined blood parameters, body composition, and life style factors such as food habits and physical activity in pre- and post-menopausal women. The collected data were then analyzed to evaluate the various items. Overall, there were no differences between the pre- and post-menopausal women for food habit score, or for intakes of energy, protein, Int, iron, vitamin A, vitamin $B_1$, vitamin $B_2$, niacin, vitamin C, and calcium. However, carbohydrate intake was significantly higher in the postmenopausal women than in the premenopausal women. The Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans(KDRIs), in terms of energy, fat, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin $B_1$, were less than 100% in both the premenopausal women and postmenopausal women. All intakes of protein, iron, vitamin $B_2$, niacin, and vitamin C satisfied the KDRIs in both groups. Finally, the postmenopausal women had higher serum fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and alkaline phosphatase levels than the premenopausal women.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5501-5504
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• 2012

Cervical cancer is an important woman's health problems worldwide, especially in low socio-economic countries. The aim of this study was to compare the Pap smear screening results between Akha hill tribe and urban women who live in Chiang Rai province, Thailand. Screening was conducted for 1,100 Akha women and 1,100 urban women who came to have the Pap smear at Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital and 1 private cytology laboratory from January to June 2008. The demographic characteristics and factors related to abnormal Pap smears of these women were gathered using closed model questionnaires. Abnormal Pap smears were defined according to the Bethesda 2001 system. The results showed that the prevalence of abnormal Pap smears was 12.2% in Akha women and 4.5% in urban women. The highest prevalence of Pap abnormalities was found in the 41-50 years age group in both populations (4.5% in Akha and 1.7% in urban women). In both populations, abnormal Pap smears were found in <21 years age groups. From the questionnaires, the possible risk factors related to the higher prevalence of abnormal Pap smears in Akha women were early age at marriage (${\leq}17$ years), high frequency pregnacies and high parity and no/low education level. In conclusion, cervical cancer control by education and early detection by Pap smear screening is necessary for hill tribe women. More Pap smear screening service units should be set to improve the coverage for the risk group women who got married in young age, especial in ethnic groups.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.91-96
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• 2012

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of HPV and cervical neoplasia among HIV-infected women in southwestern China. Methods: Cervical cytology, HPV detection by Hybrid Capture-$2^{TM}$ assay, and diagnostic colposcopy were followed by cervical biopsy if indicated. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze associations between HPV co-infection and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and HIV-related clinical and laboratory parameters. Results: Colposcopic-histopathologically proven CIN2+ lesions were present in 7/83 (8.4%) HIV-infected women. Nearly half (41/83, 43%) were co-infected with carcinogenic HPV genotypes. HPV co-infection was higher in women with colposcopic-histopathologically proven CIN2+ lesions than women with $cells/{\mu}L$ had higher CIN2+ prevalence after adjusting for current ART status and age (adjusted OR: 6.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 36.5). Conclusions: HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs should integrate effective cervical cancer prevention services to mitigate the risk of invasive cervical cancer among HIV-infected women in China.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6691-6695
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• 2014

Background: A population-based cervical cancer screening program using visual inspection with acetic acid was launched in Maldives in 2014. Our study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of women in relation to risk factors of cervical cancer, early detection of the disease and its prevention. Materials and Methods: The questionnaire based survey was conducted among 20 to 50 year old women, systematically sampled to represent three regions of Maldives. Trained investigators interviewed a total of 2,845 women at home. Results: The prevalence of the risk factors of cervical cancer like early age at marriage and childbirth, multiple marriages, multiple marriages of the husbands, and multiple pregnancies was high. More women knew about breast cancer than cervical cancer. Even among the small number of women who knew of cervical cancer, only 34.6% had the knowledge of at least one early symptom. Very few women knew that the cancer could be prevented by any test. Only 6.2% of the women reported having ever undergone a Pap smear. Many women had the misconception that cervical cancer was infectious. In Maldives the younger women have high literacy rate due to the policy of universal free education and those with higher levels of education had improved knowledge of cervical cancer and its risk factors. The prevalence of risk factors also reduced with improved literacy. Conclusions: Awareness about risk factors and prevention of cervical cancer is limited among Maldivian women in spite of having high exposure to some of the risk factors. A universal literacy program in the country has helped to improve the knowledge of cervical cancer prevention and to reduce the exposure to various risk factors in the younger population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3685-3690
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• 2015

Background: Low-dose oral contraceptives (OC) were approved by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 1999, yet despite their contraceptive and non-contraceptive health benefits, only 5% of the target population use them. Fear of increased cancer risk, particularly breast cancer, is one reason for this. Due to low OC uptake and low screening participation, a paucity of data is available on the risk of OC use and breast cancer in Japanese women. The present study investigated OC use and breast cancer risk, as well as menstrual, reproductive and family factors. Materials and Methods: This was a clinic-based case-control study of women aged 20-69yrs who had undergone breast screening between January 2007 and December 2013 in central Tokyo. In all, 28.8% of the participants had experience with OC use. Cases were 155 women with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer. Controls were the remaining 12,333 women. Results: Increased age was a significant risk factor for breast cancer (p<0.001). A lower risk was found in premenopausal women presently taking OC compared to never users (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.22-0.90) after adjusting for age, parity and breast feeding, and a family history of breast cancer. Conclusions: Increased age rather than OC use had a greater effect on breast cancer risk. This risk may be decreased in premenopausal women with OC use, but further long-term prospective studies are necessary.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1463-1470
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• 2012

Objective: The aims of this study were to explore Turkish women's knowledge, behavior and beliefs related to cervical cancer and screening. Methods: The study was performed in two cities in the East of Turkey between September 2009 and April 2010, with a sampling group of 387 women. Data were collected by means of an interview form with the Health Belief Model Scale for Cervical Cancer and Pap Smear Test - Turkish Version. Results: Women in the research group were found to have poor knowledge, inadequate health behavior and low/medium level false beliefs regarding cervical cancer screening. There was relation between health beliefs and characteristics of women and particularly education (F = 10.80, p = 0.01). Similarly, it was found that Pap smear barriers were influenced by demographic characteristics and that women with low-level education (p = 0.001), divorced women (p = 0.05), women with low-income(p = 0.05), women who gave their first birth when they were 18 or younger (p = 0.05) and women not applying any contraceptive method at all (p = 0.01) were determined to have negative Pap smear barriers. Conclusions: Primarily the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of women in the target group should be evaluated to increase their participation in cervical cancer screening and to prepare effective education strategies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.6093-6095
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• 2012

Background: Phytoestrogens may be an alternative therapy in control of menopausal symptoms but their definite effects on breast tissue must be determined. Our study aimed to define the clinical and ultrasonographic changes of the breast after use of soy isoflavones in menopausal women. Materials and Methods: Menopausal women with hot flashes were randomly grouped as cases and controls and cases received soy isoflavones for 12 weeks. Breast examination (BE) and ultrasonography (US) were done at 0, 6 and 12 weeks. Tenderness and nodularity on BE were graded 1-4 by breast surgeons. Results: There were 30 women in the case and 26 in the control group. The mean age was 51.3 years and the mean age of menopause was 49.2 years. There was no change in the BE and US at 6 weeks in controls. In the case group, 10% had grade 1 tenderness and 13.3% grade 2 tenderness and grade 1 nodularity in BE accompanied with diffuse small cysts in US. At 12 weeks, there was no change in BE and US in the 2 groups. Conclusions: There was no statistically significant difference in the BE of the 2 groups at 6 and 12 weeks (p value=0.36 and 0.41 for nodularity and tenderness respectively) and in the US results. Although the literature contains many facts concerning PEs and the breast, further prospective studies are needed to identify structural breast changes produced by PEs in order to identify the appropriate dosage and indications of use.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5243-5251
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• 2015

Background: To assess women's awareness from diverse sections of society in Delhi regarding various aspects of breast cancer (BC) - perceptions, signs and symptoms, risk factors, prevention, screening and treatment. Materials and Methods: Community-level survey was undertaken in association with the Indian Cancer Society (ICS), Delhi during May 2013-March 2014. Women attending BC awareness workshops by ICS were given self-administered questionnaires before the workshop in the local language to assess BC literacy. Information provided by 2017 women was converted into awareness scores (aware=1) for analysis using SPSS. Awareness scores were dichotomized with median score=19 as cut off, create more aware and less aware categories. Bivariate and multivariate analysis provided P-values, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Broadly, 53.4% women were aware about various aspects of BC. Notably, 49.1% women believed that BC was incurable and 73.9% women believed pain to be an initial BC symptom. Only 34.9% women performed breast self-examination (BSE) and 6.9% women had undergone clinical breast-examination/mammography. 40.5% women had higher awareness (awareness score > median score of 19), which was associated with education [graduates (OR=2.31; 95%CI=1.78, 3.16), post-graduates (OR=7.06; 95%CI=4.14, 12.05) compared to ${\leq}$ high school] and socio-economic status (SES) [low-middle (OR=4.20; 95%CI=2.72, 6.49), middle (OR=6.00; 95%CI=3.82, 9.42) and upper (OR=6.97; 95%CI=4.10, 11.84) compared to low SES]. Conclusions: BC awareness of women in Delhi was suboptimal and was associated with low SES and education. Awareness must be drastically increased via community outreach and use of media as a first step in the fight against BC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.143-147
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• 2016

Breast and cervical cancers are among leading causes of morbidity and mortality in women worldwide. Regular screening is very important for early detection of these cancers, but studies indicate low rates of screening participation. In this survey we studied the rate of screening participation among women 18-64 years old referred to urban health centers in Kerman, Iran in 2015. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 240 women who were selected using a multistage sampling method. Data collected using a questionnaire covered demographics and questions about common cancer screening status in women. Analysis was by SPSS 19. The mean age of participants was $31.7{\pm}7$. Most (97.1%) were married, housewives (83.3%), had high school diploma (43.8%) and a monthly income more than ten million Rls. The frequency of the Pap test performance was higher in women who were employed and with a university degree (p<0.05). The frequency of mammography performance in women over 40 years was also higher in women with university degree (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of pelvic examination, and self and clinical breast examinations based on education, household income and employment (p>0.05). Our study found that the rate of screening participation among women is low. Investigation of the barriers, increasing the awareness of women about the importance and advantages of screening and also more incentives for health personnel especially family physicians to pay more attention to preventive programs could be effective.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.711-719
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was 1) to investigate the food intake, dietary habits and life behavioral characteristics, and 2) to examine the relationship among these factors in a sample of adult Korean women. In October 2010, self-reported questionnaire survey was distributed to 200 women aged 30 to 65 in Gyunggi Province. Overall, 177 women participated and completed the survey. Most participants were married (97.2%) and housewives (83.6%). About 85% of respondents lived with their children. For comprehensive analysis, all respondents were divided into three age groups; 30~39, 40~49, and 50~65. The percent of intake of high protein foods such as meat and fish, eggs, and milk products was higher younger age groups (p<0.05). Moreover, age 30~39 group were more likely to eat potatoes (p<0.05) than age 50~65 group. However, age 50~65 women more frequently consumed seaweed than other age groups (p<0.01). Women who ate breakfast or dinner consumed a significantly higher frequency of vegetables, seaweed, potatoes, and kimchi (p<0.01). Additionally, women who ate breakfast with family more frequently consumed vegetables, fruit and kimchi. Furthermore, older women were likely to have less sleeping time than other groups. In conclusion, there were western dietary patterns among adult women and these dietary patterns were partly related to different life behavior and dietary habits. Considering that negative dietary habits of adult women can influence their family and health for the rest of their life, nutritional education programs based on changes in lifestyle should be developed.