ArticleScientific reports2025
Assessing high-risk human papillomavirus-based cervical precancer screening recommendations and implications among women aged 60/65 years and older in Ghana.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Sexual health needs and challenges among ageing women in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review.Frontiers in aging · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We aimed to assess the prevalence of high-risk HPV (hr-HPV) infection, cervical lesions observed through visual inspection, and abnormal cytology among women aged ≥ 60 years screened by the Cervical Cancer Prevention and Training Centre, Ghana. We further compared screening outcomes between women aged ≥ 60 and ≥ 65 years to assess the implications of applying these age cut-offs for screening cessation. Among 1,319 women screened, the overall mean ages were 66.7 and 71.2 years among ≥ 60- and ≥ 65-year-olds, respectively. The overall prevalence of hr-HPV infection was 27.9% (95% CI, 25.1 - 31.0), with a higher prevalence among ≥ 65-year-olds (30.8%; 95% CI, 26.6 - 35.2). Visual inspection 'positivity' rates were 1.9% (95% CI, 1.2 - 2.8) among ≥ 60-year-olds and 1.9% (95% CI, 1.0 - 3.2) among ≥ 65-year-olds. Cytology revealed ASCUS or worse lesions in 8.6% (95% CI, 1.8 - 23.1). Factors independently associated with hr-HPV infection among all women aged ≥ 60 included HIV co-infection (aOR, 4.12; 95% CI, 2.48 - 6.84), age (aOR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00 - 1.05), parity (aOR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.02 - 1.14), and earning an income (aOR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.10 - 2.15). In the ≥ 65-year-old subgroup, these associations were attenuated, except for HIV infection (aOR, 4.20; 95% CI, 2.07 - 8.49; p-value < 0.001). Among histopathologically-confirmed CC cases, 39.1% (95% CI, 31.7 - 46.8) were ≥ 60-year-olds, while 25.4% (95% CI, 19.1 - 32.7) were ≥ 65-year-olds. The study indicates a higher prevalence of hr-HPV infection among older women compared to community-dwelling younger women, with similar rates of cervical lesions on colposcopy. Given the increasing life expectancy in Ghana, the population of older women at risk for CC is expected to grow. Therefore, it is premature to recommend age-based cessation of cervical precancer screening in older women in Ghana. The context of limited access to screening and the opportunistic nature of screening, supports a more conservative approach to CC prevention among older women, particularly those living with HIV.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.