Fact About Cervical Cancer

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the fifth most deadly cancer in women. It affects about 16 per 100,000 women per year and kills about 9 per 100,000 per year.

In the United States, it is only the 8th most common cancer of women. In 1998, about 12,800 women were diagnosed in the US and about 4,800 died. Among gynecological cancers it ranks behind endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. The incidence and mortality in the US are about half those for the rest of the world, which is due in part to the success of screening with the Pap smear. The incidence of new cases of cervical cancer in the United States was 7 per 100,000 women in 2004.

In the United Kingdom, the incidence is 9.1/100,000 per year (2005), similar to the rest of Northern Europe, and mortality is 3.1/100,000 per year (2006) (Cancer Research UK Cervical cancer statistics for the UK). With a 42% reduction from 1988-1997 the NHS implemented screening programme has been highly successful, screening the highest risk age group (25–49 years) every 3 years, and those ages 50–64 every 5 years.

In Canada, an estimated 1,300 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2008 and 380 will die.

In Australia, there were 734 cases of cervical cancer (2005).The number of women diagnosed with cervical cancer has dropped on average by 4.5% each year since organised screening began in 1991 (1991-2005).

Worldwide it is estimated that there are 473,000 cases of cervical cancer, and 253,500 deaths per year.