The changing incidence of cervical carcinoma

Abstract

The incidence of cervical carcinoma in Shelby County was reduced 51 per cent between 1949 through 1961 through cytological screening of three fourths of the 132,482 white women aged 20 and over. Of the 25 cases diagnosed as invasive carcinoma in 1961, 20 had never had cervicovaginal smears. The minimally screened population of the remaining Mid-South, by contrast, had only 13.6 per cent fewer diagnoses of cervical carcinoma over the same time period.Death rate from cervical carcinoma in white women of Shelby County has decreased 59 per cent from 1953 (peak of the past decade) to 1961, reflecting diagnosis in earlier and more curable stages of invasion as well as cures of preinvasive lesions.