Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40254639›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Effect of girls' education on cancer awareness and screening in a natural experiment in Lesotho.

Janny Liao, Ramaele Moshoeshoe, Michelle D Holmes, S V Subramanian, Jan-Walter De Neve

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Janny LiaoHeidelberg Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. jannyliao@college.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0007-2313-8693
Ramaele MoshoeshoeDepartment of Economics, National University of Lesotho, Roma, Lesotho.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9313-9113
Michelle D HolmesChanning Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
S V SubramanianHarvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2365-4165
Jan-Walter De NeveHeidelberg Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0090-8249

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Breast and cervical cancers are important causes of disability and premature death among women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previous research has linked girls' education to cancer service access. Here, we examine the causal effect of girls' educational attainment on cancer screening practices by means of a natural experiment in Lesotho. In particular, we exploit variation in educational attainment among women that was introduced by an educational policy (a school-entry age cut-off). Data on awareness towards breast cancer, knowledge of Pap smear, breast self-exam, breast clinical exam, and having received a Pap smear is extracted from the Lesotho Demographic and Health Surveys 2009-10 and 2014 (N = 7971). Each additional year of schooling caused by the education policy increases awareness of breast cancer by 4.7 percentage points (p = 0.014, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.0, 8.5), awareness of Pap smear by 5.9 percentage points (p = 0.001, 95% CI: 2.3, 9.5), and engagement in Pap smear by 3.5 percentage points (p = 0.004, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.8). We found no statistically significant effects on breast self-exam and breast clinical exam.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsEarly Detection of CancerHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeUterine Cervical NeoplasmsAdolescentAdultBreast Self-ExaminationEducational StatusFemaleHumansLesothoMiddle AgedPapanicolaou TestVaginal SmearsYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID40254639
PMCPMC12009962

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.