Eliminating Invasive Cervical Cancer Possible, Moffitt Cancer Center Researchers Report

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida and The Ohio State University have published a paper in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention that provides an overview on preventing invasive cervical cancer.

“The good news is that over the past several decades, the incidence of invasive cervical cancer has declined dramatically,” said senior author Anna R. Giuliano, Ph.D., director of Moffitt’s Center for Infection Research in Cancer and senior member of the Cancer Epidemiology Department. “The bad news is that 60 percent of invasive cervical cancers occur in women who are members of underserved racial or ethnic minorities, in women residing in rural areas or living in poverty.”

The incidence of invasive cervical cancer has declined 75 percent since the 1940s. According to the authors, rates have decreased from 14.8 per 100,000 women in 1975 to 6.6 per 100,000 in 2008. Credit for the decline is given to the more widespread use of the Pap smear.

The number of current cases of invasive cervical cancer varies by race and ethnicity, geography, and socioeconomic status. For Hispanics, the incidence of invasive cervical cancer is 10.4 per 100,000, higher than any other group. Among blacks 85 and older, the incidence is three times higher than white women in the same age group.

“In looking across the nation, there are geographic and socioeconomic disparities associated with invasive cervical cancer rates,” noted lead author Christine M. Pierce Campbell, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow within Moffitt’s Cancer Epidemiology Department. “Along the U.S.-Mexico border, in the deep South and in Appalachia, rates are higher than in other regions of the nation. Also, many studies have shown that socioeconomic status predicts who gets screened, diagnosed and treated for invasive cervical cancer, regardless of race and ethnicity.”

Giuliano, Pierce Campbell and their co-authors also note that federal and local funding of prevention programs, such as the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, the only nationwide screening program, has helped reduce incidence. Although the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program was implemented to promote screening among high-risk and low-income women, the program has historically served few of the women eligible for the service. The numbers of those taking advantage of the service vary by state, but between 2004 and 2006, only 8.7 percent of women eligible for screening received it, the authors said.

Important Facts About Cervical Cancer • Cervical cancer can usually be prevented if women are screened regularly with a test called the Pap test. • It is estimated that during 2003, about 12,200 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 4,100 women will die of the disease. • Any woman who has a cervix can get cervical cancer, especially if she or her sexual partner has had sex with several other partners. • Most often, cervical cancer develops in women aged 40 or older. • Abnormal cells in the cervix and cervical cancer don’t always cause symptoms, especially at first. That’s why getting tested for cervical cancer is important, even if there are no symptoms. • When it is found early and treated, cervical cancer is highly curable. • Most deaths from cervical cancer could be avoided if women had regular checkups with the Pap test.