Sacramento, Calif.-based UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers found an increase in the number of California women 65 and older who are diagnosed with late-stage cervical cancer and dying from the disease.
The study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention on Jan. 9, looked at 12,442 patients older than 21 with a first primary cervical cancer diagnosed between 2009 and 2018. One in 5 of these women were older than 65.
Current U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines recommend women stop cervical cancer screenings at 65.
The study also found:
- Women older than 65 presented with 71 percent of the late-stage disease.
- Late-stage diagnosis increased up to age 79.
- Late-stage five-year relative survival was 23 percent to 36 percent.
- Women 80 and older had the lowest survival rate of all age groups.
"Our findings highlight the need to better understand how current screening guidelines might be failing women 65 and over," the study's lead author, Julianne Cooley, UC Davis senior statistician, said in a UC Davis news release Jan. 9. "We need to focus on determining the past screening history of older women as well as lapses in follow-up care. We must utilize noninvasive testing approaches for women nearing age 65 or those who need to catch up on their cervical cancer screenings."