Regional differences in cervical cancer incidence and associated risk behaviors among Norwegian women: a population-based study

Table 3 Sexual behavior by region in Norway

Age at sexual debut
Region	N	Debut (%)	Debut before age of consent¹ (%)	Mean (SE²) age at debut	Median (IQR³) age at debut	Adj HR⁴ (95% CI⁵) debut	Adj OR⁶ (95% CI) debut before age of consent
Norway	16,255	96.26	20.9	17.19 (0.02)	17 (16, 18)	1.00 (reference)	1.00 (reference)
North	1643	97.58	30.9	16.53 (0.06)	16 (15, 17)	1.30 (1.24, 1.36)*	1.55 (1.42, 1.70)*
Middle	1939	96.87	22.1	16.97 (0.06)	17 (16, 18)	1.04 (0.99, 1.09)	0.97 (0.89, 1.06)
Southeast	9351	96.36	19.8	17.27 (0.03)	17 (16, 18)	0.88 (0.85, 0.91)*	0.86 (0.81, 0.91)*
West	3322	94.93	18.4	17.39 (0.05)	17 (16, 18)	0.85 (0.81, 0.88)*	0.77 (0.71, 0.83)*
Number of sexual partners
Region	N⁷	Median (IQR)	Mean (SE)	Adj OR⁸ (95% CI) > 2 partners		Adj OR⁸ (95% CI) > 5 partners	Adj OR⁸ (95% CI) > 10 partners
Norway	15,517	5 (2, 10)	7.61 (0.08)	1.00 (reference)		1.00 (reference)	1.00 (reference)
North	1573	6 (3, 10)	8.80 (0.24)	1.26 (1.13, 1.40)*		1.17 (1.07 1.27)*	1.11 (1.01, 1.23)*
Middle	1867	5 (2, 10)	7.44 (0.18)	0.96 (0.88, 1.06)		0.97 (0.90, 1.05)	0.98 (0.89, 1.08)
Southeast	8945	5 (2, 10)	7.74 (0.11)	1.05 (0.99, 1.11)		1.05 (1.00, 1.11)	1.11 (1.04, 1.18)*
West	3130	5 (2, 8)	6.76 (0.16)	0.79 (0.73, 0.85)*		0.84 (0.79, 0.90)*	0.83 (0.76, 0.90)*

¹ Debut before age 16
² Standard error
³ Interquartile range
⁴ Hazard ratio adjusted for age and mode of response, from discrete-time generalized linear survival model with follow-up from birth until age 18
⁵ Confidence interval
⁶ Odds ratio adjusted for age and mode of response, from logistic regression
⁷ Number of women with sexual debut who reported number of sexual partners
⁸ Odds ratio adjusted for age, mode of response and age at sexual debut, from ordinal regression
* P < 0.05

ISSN: 1471-2407