A Castanon*,1, V M W Leung1, R Landy1, A W W Lim1 and P Sasieni1

1Centre for Cancer Prevention, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, Charterhouse
Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK

Characteristics and Screening History of

Women Diagnosed With Cervical Cancer
Aged 2029 Years
REVIEWED BY:
M. AULIA KURNIAWAN

dr. Hasanuddin, Sp. OG

 INTRODUCTION

With the introduction of the cervical screening programme in 1988 it

was hoped that cervical cancer could be almost eliminated,
particularly in young women

There is increasing evidence that cervical screening in women aged

2024 years is not as effective in preventing cervical cancer as
screening women aged 25 years

Here we aim to describe the characteristics of women who develop

cervical cancer in their twenties in terms of stage at diagnosis,
histology, treatment and socioeconomic status, and to examine
changes in screening history by stage.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS

Subjects
We used data on women in England diagnosed with
cervical cancer (ICD-10 C53) aged 2029.99 years
between April 2007 and March 2012 from the National
Audit of Invasive Cervical Cancers
Statistical Methods
Descriptive statistics were examined to compare the
distributions of the International Federation of
Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system at
diagnosis, histology, treatment, period of diagnosis,
deprivation and screening history. x2 tests were used to
test for differences between the age groups.
 RESULTS

The study includes a total of 1800 women diagnosed with cervical

cancer aged 2029 years between April 2007 and March 2012

The majority of cancers (63.2%) were diagnosed between the age

of 26 and 29 years, with a further 24.4% diagnosed at age 25 years.

Cervical cancer is rare in women aged 2024 years compared with

women aged 2529 years, with only 12.4% (n223) of cancers
diagnosed in this age group, which is roughly equivalent to the
number of cancers diagnosed at age 26 years (n257).

Furthermore, half (n110) of all cancers diagnosed at age

2024 years were diagnosed at age 24 years, 25% (n56) at age
23 years and 26% (n57) at age 2022 years.
 DISCUSSION

The number of cancers diagnosed at age 25 years has changed

dramatically over the past few years; rates have increased three-fold
since the start of the study period. Cervical cancer is rare in women
aged 2024 years when compared with women aged 2529 years.
Results are distorted by the large proportion of women who are
screened and diagnosed at age 25 years: more cancers are diagnosed at
age 26 (n257) than at ages 2024 years combined (n223).
Nevertheless, cancers in women aged 2024 years tend to be more
advanced at diagnosis and of rarer histological types than cancers in
older women, leading to more aggressive treatment. Indeed, more
women had chemoradiotherapy for cancer diagnosed at age 2024
years (n58) than at age 25 years (n29). Screen-detected cancers
are most likely to be diagnosed as microinvasive cancer (stage 1A),
whereas those who were never screened or had interval cancers are
most likely to be diagnosed with stage 2 or worse cervical cancer.
THANK

YOU