Cancer Caused by HPV Increasing in U.S. Women
The percentage of women screened for cervical cancer fell, especially in rural areas, as rates of the disease have been edging up among women in their 30s and 40s.
Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, although recent research suggests that the United States is backsliding in efforts to detect the disease early, when it is most curable.
A new study shows that the percentage of women screened for cervical cancer fell from 47% in 2019 to 41% in 2023.
Rural women are 25% more likely to be diagnosed and 42% more likely to die from cervical cancer than women who live in cities, a trend that likely reflects lower screening rates in less populated areas, according to the study, published in JAMA Network Open this month.
Every year, 13,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with cervical cancer, which is almost always caused by HPV, or human papillomavirus. About 4,320 die each year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Cervical cancer rates have been edging upward among women in their 30s and early 40s, perhaps because women ages 21 to 29 are the least likely to be up to date on their screenings, with 29% being overdue.
Cervical cancer takes several years to develop, progressing from abnormal cell changes and precancers before transforming into cancer. Studies show that women are also less likely to be screened if they are nonwhite, uninsured or identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual.
HPV vaccines are safe and can prevent 90% of cervical cancers. Yet resistance to the vaccine, which protects against cancer-causing strains of the sexually transmitted infection, has persisted since it was approved almost 20 years ago. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has disparaged them as dangerous, linking HPV shots to autoimmune conditions and mental illness, a blatantly false, ignorant, egregious, and almost criminal level of misinformation for someone in that position.
