Higher Cervical Cancer Deaths Seen Where Screening Is Low

TOPLINE:

A new study found that US counties with consistently low coverage for cervical cancer screening had substantially higher rates of overall incidence, mortality, and late-stage diagnoses of the cancer than did counties with consistently high coverage. Most of the counties with consistently low coverage were in Texas, Idaho, and New Mexico.

METHODOLOGY:

Cervical cancer incidence and mortality are disproportionately higher in low-resourced US counties, yet the role of long-term county-level screening disparities has not been well characterized. Identifying counties with persistently low coverage may help target screening programs to reduce these disparities.

Researchers analyzed women with cervical cancer aged 20 years or older using SEER-22 data from 1086 counties and mortality