Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118477

Hanh La, MHS, Dept. Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe ST, Baltimore, MD 21205, (212) 960-3456, hanhla@gmail.com, Nga Nguyen, MD, Vietnam National Cancer Institute, 43 Quan Su St, Hanoi, Vietnam, and Phung Le, MD, PhD, Hanoi Medical University, 1 Ton That Tung St, Hanoi, Dong Da District, Vietnam.

In Vietnam, cervical cancer is the leading cause of female cancers; both HPV and cervical cancer rates are 4 times lower in the North. The North's lower prevalence and missing peak of HPV in young adults suggest a younger epidemic. In the last 5 years, Vietnam's economy has averaged 7% annual growth. Our hypothesis is that with decreasing isolation, HPV prevalence has increased in the north to levels observed in the south. With 65% of the population < 25 years, increases in HPV will multiply future cervical cancer burden and underline the urgency for a national screening program.

We enrolled 1230 married women from the same Northern communes that participated in WHO's 1998 HPV survey. Each participant underwent a blood draw, Pap smear, a self and a physician-collected cytyobrush sample, and a questionnaire. Both cytyobrush samples were analyzed by Digene hybrid capture method at Hanoi Medical University Laboratory for high-risk HPV. Preliminary analysis shows 9.5% prevalence in either sample, compared to 1.9% all-types HPV in 1998. Samples are being validated at the Bloomberg School of Public Health with PCR; we will next conduct multivariate analyses to assess behavioral correlates of high-risk HPV prevalence. They include demographics (age, education, income), smoking, reproductive history (parity and contraception), sexual behavior, (sexual debut age, no. of partners), and reports of husband's behavior (no. of partners, average days absent from home).

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of the session, the APHA participant will be able to describe prevalence of HPV and behavioral correlates among this population.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.