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Scientists strive to eliminate cervical cancer

Category: Cancer Detection and Tumor Markers

Fewer women are screening positive for cervical cancer biomarkers in blood tests for the disease, according to research highlighted in an article for the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

However, the rates of cervical cancer remain disproportionate between different racial and socioeconomic groups. The researchers from the Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of South Florida and Ohio State University note that Hispanic women have the greatest chance of developing cervical cancer. Meanwhile, black women over the age of 85 are three times as susceptible to the disease as white women of the same age.

"The good news is that over the past several decades, the incidence of invasive cervical cancer has declined dramatically," said Anna R. Giuliano of the Moffitt Cancer Center. "The bad news is that 60 percent of invasive cervical cancers occur in women who are members of underserved racial or ethnic minorities, in women residing in rural areas or living in poverty."

The study authors note that 15 out of every 100,000 women received positive blood tests for cervical cancer in 1975. However, thanks to the widespread use of pap smears, that number has decreased dramatically. The National Cancer Institute's most recent data show that just over 12,000 new cases of cervical cancer have been reported since the start of 2012.