Association of Educational Levels with Survival in Indian Patients with Cancer of the Uterine Cervix

Abstract

The main objective of this paper was to assess the influence of educational level on the survival of uterinecervix cancer patients in our population. A total of 224 patients were registered in our registry, of which 178 hadinformation on stage and different educational levels. The overall median survival (MS) was 23 months, withvalues of 18.5, 20.7 and 41.3 months for the illiterate, literate and qualified groups, respectively. In the illiteratepatients, stage I was seen in 2.6% and stage IV in 11.8%, while in other 2 groups stage I was seen in 10% to17% of patients at the time of diagnosis. The survival probability at around 50 months was around 42%, 30%and 26% (approximately) for qualified, literates and illiterates respectively [Log Rank (Mantel-Cox) showedp=0.023]. Emphasis on imparting education to females can be a part of comprehensive cancer control programmefor improving the overall survival in patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix in our population.