Heavy cervical cancer burden in elderly women: how can we improve the situation?

The American Cancer Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the US Preventive Services Task Force recommend discontinuation of cervical cancer screening between 65 and 70 years of age in women with no abnormal test results in the preceding 10 years. This population-based...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inActa cytologica Vol. 56; no. 4; p. 388
Main Authors Skaznik-Wikiel, Malgorzata E, Sukumvanich, Paniti, Austin, R Marshall, Zorn, Kristin K, Krivak, Thomas C, Edwards, Robert P, Olawaiye, Alexander B
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland 01.01.2012
Subjects
Adult
Age Distribution
Aged - statistics & numerical data
Aged, 80 and over
Cost of Illness
Early Diagnosis
Female
Humans
Incidence
Middle Aged
Neoplasm Staging
SEER Program
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms - epidemiology
Young Adult
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Summary:The American Cancer Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the US Preventive Services Task Force recommend discontinuation of cervical cancer screening between 65 and 70 years of age in women with no abnormal test results in the preceding 10 years. This population-based study was undertaken to determine the incidence of cervical cancer in different age groups as a means to establish if current screening recommendations need reevaluation. Data from the SEER database were used to compute incidence rates for cervical cancer diagnosed between 2000 and 2006 by age and disease stage. We identified 18,003 women with cervical cancer. 12.18% were above the age of 69. The incidence in this age group was 8.7/100,000. Women younger than 30 comprised 5.7% of patients with an incidence of 5/100,000 and were most commonly diagnosed with stage IA1 disease. Women above 70 were most frequently diagnosed with stage IIIB. 79% of patients younger than 30 were diagnosed with an early disease (stage IA1-IIA) as opposed to only 41.2% of patients aged 69 or above. The incidence of cervical cancer does not decrease significantly in older women. Women over the age of 70 are frequently diagnosed with advanced stage disease which limits their treatment options. Failure to apply uniform screening across all at-risk age groups may account for the discrepancy.
ISSN:0001-5547
DOI:10.1159/000338555