TABLE 3.
Country and sex‐specific odds ratios for ESCC associated with the practice of geophagia
| Sex | Country | Age‐sex adjusted | No. cases/controls | Age‐adjusted OR (95% CI) | Fully‐adjusteda OR (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Malawi | Never/rare | 280/298 | 1 | 1 |
| Regularly | 28/32 | 0.98 (0.57, 1.68) | 0.95 (0.53, 1.69) | ||
| Tanzania | Geophagia was rare in men | – | – | ||
| Kenya | Geophagia not asked in men | ||||
| Women | Tanzania | Never | 41/52 | 1 | 1 |
| Pregnancy only + Regularlyb | 27/21 | 1.61 (0.79, 3.29) | 1.66 (0.77, 3.55) | ||
| Kenya | Never | 61/55 | 1 | 1 | |
| Pregnancy only | 34/42 | 0.74 (0.41, 1.33) | 0.71 (0.38, 1.34) | ||
| Malawi | Never | 125/132 | 1 | 1 | |
| Pregnancy only | 65/96 | 0.73 (0.48, 1.09) | 0.73 (0.48, 1.11) | ||
| Regularly | 37/30 | 1.32 (0.76, 2.27) | 1.13 (0.64, 2.00) | ||
| Women | Allc | Never | 227/239 | 1 | 1 |
| Pregnancy only | 121/158 | 0.83 (0.61, 1.12) | 0.88 (0.64, 1.22) | ||
| Pregnancy only and parity ≤4 | 43/56 | 0.88 (0.56, 1.38) | 0.93 (0.57, 1.48) | ||
| Pregnancy only and parity 4+ | 78/102 | 0.80 (0.57, 1.13) | 0.82 (0.54, 1.25) | ||
| Regularly | 42/31 | 1.48 (0.89, 2.44) | 1.25 (0.70, 2.22) | ||
| Women | Malawi | Never | 125/132 | 1 | |
| Pregnancy only | 65/96 | 0.73 (0.48, 1.09) | 0.73 (0.48, 1.11) | ||
| Pregnancy only and parity ≤4 | 27/36 | 0.83 (0.47, 1.49) | 0.89 (0.49, 1.61) | ||
| Pregnancy only and parity 4+ | 38/60 | 0.67 (0.42, 1.08) | 0.65 (0.39, 1.06) | ||
| Regularly | 37/30 | 1.32 (0.77, 2.29) | 1.14 (0.65, 2.01) | ||
| Subset and sensitivity analysis in women only (all countries combined) | |||||
| Control type | All cases vs hospital patient controls | Never | 227/99 | 1 | 1 |
| Pregnancy only | 121/77 | 0.67 (0.46, 0.98) | 0.75 (0.50, 1.12) | ||
| Regularly | 42/19 | 0.94 (0.52, 1.71) | 0.87 (0.46, 1.65) | ||
| Control type | All cases vs hospital visitor controls | Never | 227/138 | 1 | 1 |
| Pregnancy only | 121/81 | 0.97 (0.68, 1.40) | 1.06 (0.71, 1.58) | ||
| Regularly | 42/12 | 2.41 (1.22, 4.76) | 1.68 (0.80, 3.54) | ||
| Age | <50 years | Never | 59/74 | 1 | 1 |
| Pregnancy only | 50/55 | 1.15 (0.69, 1.93) | 1.20 (0.68, 2.14) | ||
| Regularly | 16/14 | 1.56 (0.70, 3.56) | 1.25 (0.55, 2.86) | ||
| Age | 50+ years | Never | 168/164 | 1 | 1 |
| Pregnancy only | 71/103 | 0.69 (0.47, 1.00) | 0.71 (0.47, 1.08) | ||
| Regularly | 26/17 | 1.50 (0.78, 2.91) | 1.09 (0.52, 2.25) | ||
Note: For the OR, regularly was combined with pregnancy only, due to too few participants.
a
Fully adjusted models included age (design factor), smoking habit, alcohol drinking, marital status and religious belief with adjustment for country in the “all women” models.
b
Small numbers of regular users, hence, this overall result is driven by pregnancy‐only users.
c
Adjusted for country.