Cervical Cancer in Older Women

Abstract

Cervical cancer rates in the United States are higher than previously estimated, particularly among women ages 65 and older, according to the authors of a study published May 12 in Cancer, who suggest that these women could benefi t from cervical cancer screening despite current recommendations to the contrary. Previous estimates of cervical cancer incidence included women who had undergone hysterectomy that included removal of the cervix. Given the high rate of hysterectomy in the United States, researchers conducted an analysis of cervical cancer incidence with statistical correction for hysterectomy and found the corrected incidence of cervical cancer was 18.6 cases per 100,000 women, with incidence increasing steadily with age and peaking among women 65 to 69 years old, in whom the incidence of cervical cancer was 27.4 cases per 100,000 women, which is 84 percent higher than the uncorrected rate of 14.8 cases per 100,000 women. Among white women in this age group, the rate was 24.7 cases per 100,000, compared with an uncorrected rate of 13.5 cases per 100,000. And among black women ages 65 to 69, the uncorrected incidence was 53 cases per 100,000, compared with an uncorrected rate of 23.5 cases per 100,000. With correction for hysterectomy there are higher agespecifi c cervical cancer incidence rates and a shift in the peak incidence from younger women to older women. In addition, the disparity in cervical cancer incidence between black and white women increased. Th ese data show that rates of cervical cancer do not decline in women over ages 60 to 65 years, which is the age at which they are eligible to exit screening according to current screening guidelines for cervical cancer in older women.