High Rates of Cervical Cancer

Cervical Cancer :: High Rates of Cervical Cancer

A new report released today by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, finds that high rates of cervical cancer are indicators of larger problems in access to health care.

The report also finds that cervical cancer mortality, which is higher in certain geographic areas and populations, is a marker for other health disparities.

The authors of the new report, compiled by NCI?s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) and titled Excess Cervical Cancer Mortality: A Marker for Low Access to Health Care in Poor Communities, conclude that the nation?s public health system must improve its delivery of cervical cancer education, screening, and treatment and related health care to women at risk.

Despite a consistent decline in cervical cancer deaths in the United States overall, patterns of high cervical cancer mortality have existed for decades in specific geographic areas and populations. Those groups with the highest mortality rates include African American women in the South, Hispanic women along the Texas-Mexico border, white women in Appalachia, American Indians of the Northern Plains, Vietnamese American women, and Alaska Natives.