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Office of Women's Health Home > Publications > Indiana Takes Action > Indiana Takes Action Table of Contents > Indiana Takes Action Cervical Cancer Cervical Cancer

Facts

  • During 1998, an estimated 300 women in Indiana will have been diagnosed with cervical cancer.
  • The incidence rate for cervical cancer in the United States is 8.0 cases for every 100,000 women (1991-1995, age-adjusted). The incidence rate among African-American women (11.8) is significantly higher than among white women (7.4).
  • Since 1973, the cervical cancer incidence rate has slowly declined, from a high of 14.2 to the current 7.4 cases per 100,000 women.
  • The mortality rate for cervical cancer in the United States is 2.8 deaths for every 100,000 women (1991-1995, age-adjusted and standardized). The mortality rate among African-American women (6.1) is significantly higher than that among white women (2.5).
  • Between 1991 and 1995, Indiana's cervical cancer death rate was 3.1/100,000 (white: 2.8; African American: 5.6). During this time period, 553 women died from cervical cancer.
  • Cervical cancer mortality rates have declined in the past 40 years. This is almost entirely due to Pap test screening, which permits early detection and treatment of cervical cancer.
  • Cervical cancer is one of the most detectable and treatable forms of cancer. There is a 90-100 percent five year survival rate for women whose cancer is detected early.

Who Is At Risk?

  • Women who had intercourse before the age of 18
  • Women who have had or currently have multiple sex partners
  • Women whose sex partners have multiple partners
  • Women who have had human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes genital warts, or women who have had sexually transmitted diseases
  • Women who smoke
  • Women who had children before the age of 20 or who have been pregnant more than three times.

Figure 8. Cervical Cancer Incidence Rates for White and African-American Women, 1991-1995
Cervical Cancer Incidence Rates
(Source: SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1973-1995, National Cancer Institute)

Warning Signs

  • Abnormal cervical bleeding or spotting
  • Often no symptoms until the cancer is more advanced

Actions to Decrease the Risk of Cervical Cancer

  • Encourage and enable all women to receive annual Pap tests, even after a tubal ligation or menopause
  • Screen and educate women regarding factors that can reduce their risk

Healthy People 2000 Target/Indiana's Progress

  • Reduce deaths from cancer of the uterine cervix to no more than 1.3 per 100,000 women. (Age adjusted baseline: 2.8 per 100,000 in 1987.)
  • Increase to at least 95 percent the proportion of women over the age of 18 with uterine cervix who have ever received a Pap test, and to at least 85 percent those who received a Pap test within the preceding 1-3 years
  • The 1996 CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Survey indicated 94.9 percent of Indiana women over the age of 18 years had received a Pap test and 86.3 percent had received a Pap test within the preceding one to three years.

Figure 9. Cervical Cancer Mortality Rates for White and African-American Women, 1991-1995
Cervical Cancer Mortality Rates
(Source: CDC Wonder, http://wonder.cdc.gov, August 1998)

 

For More Information

National Cancer Institute  

1-800-4Cancer

 

American Cancer Society
Provides support services to cancer patients and their families through brochures and referrals.

  

1-800-227-2345
Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m

 

National STD Hotline
Makes referrals to clinics and hospitals for testing and provides information and materials on sexually transmitted diseases.

  

1-800-227-8922

 

Indiana State Department of Health
Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program
Call for specific screening site information and to determine eligibility for free Pap smear/pelvic exam and related care.

  

317-233-7633

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