Cervical Cancer and Age

The risk of developing cervical cancer starts from the first sexual encounter. Oncogenic HPV can affect both younger and older women, due to new infection,  subsequent infection by oncogenic HPV types, or latent HPV infection (Burd 2003; Baseman and Koutsky 2005) and although the disease can take many years to develop and is less common in younger women, women can present with cervical cancer at any age (Ferlay et al 2004). In most countries where organised screening programmes are in place, women are first screened for cervical cancer around the age of 20-30 (NHS Cervical Screening Programme 2005; Anttila et al 1999; Sasieni et al 1996; ACOG 2003). However, between 22 and 47% of the cervical cancers diagnosed are thought to have gone undetected during a recent, previous cervical screening (Leyden et al 2005; Sasieni et al 1996; Stuart et al 1997). Persistent infection with oncogenic HPV is the first step in the potential evolution to cervical cancer, and the majority of HPV infections occur soon after the initiation of exploratory relationships, usually in puberty (Baseman and Koutsky 2005; Gravitt and Jamshidi 2005).

(Reference: Ferlay et al 2004)

The global incidence of cervical cancer rises steeply between the ages of 15 and 45 years, and falls again after 55 years. Despite the impact of cervical screening programmes, in some countries the incidence of cervical cancer, particularly adenocarcinoma, is rising in women below the age of 50 years (Vizcaino et al 2000; Vizcaino et al 1998; Liu et al 2001; Sherman et al 2005).

The age-specific trends in cervical cancer-related mortality mirror the age-specific trends in incidence (Ferlay et al 2004).

Read more about age-specific cervical cancer incidence and age-specific cervical cancer mortality.