Table 1.
Baseline demographic, sexual and smoking, behavioural, and clinical information of the 87 heterosexually active Black South African women.
| Characteristic | All participants |
|---|---|
| (N = 87) | |
| Age (years) | 32.0 (25.0–39.0) |
| Age at sexual debut (years)ˆ | 18.0 (16.0–19.0) |
| Number of lifetime sexual partners | 3.0 (2.0–4.0) |
| Number of sex acts with study partner in last monthˆ | 4.0 (2.0–8.0) |
| Currently on hormonal contraception* (% (n/N)) | 42.5 (31/73 |
| HPV infection (% (n/N)) | |
| Any HPV type | 42.5 (37/87) |
| Any high-risk HPV type | 34.5 (30/87) |
| Cervical cytology (% (n/N)) | |
| Normal | 75.6 (62/82) |
| ASCUS | 13.4 (11/82) |
| LSIL | 11.0 (9/82) |
| Experienced vaginal discharge in last 6 months (% (n/N)) | 15.4 (12/78) |
| Experienced genital ulceration in last 6 months (% (n/N)) | 2.3 (2/87) |
| Findings suggestive of BV on Papanicolaou smear (% (n/N)) | 43.7 (38/87) |
| Cigarette use (% (n/N)) | |
| Never smoked | 64.4 (56/87) |
| Ex-smoker | 3.4 (3/87) |
| Current smoker | 32.2 (28/87) |
Abbreviations: HPV – human papillomavirus, ASCUS – atypical cells of undetermined significance, LSIL – low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, BV – bacterial vaginosis.
Continuous variables are expressed as medians with interquartile ranges (IQRs, at 25th and 75th percentiles).
ˆData was not available on the age at sexual debut for one woman, lifetime number of sexual partners of one woman, and number of sexual acts with study partner in the last month of two women.
*The hormonal contraceptives included oral pills, norethisterone enanthate, Depo-Provera, and steroids.