And they warned that poorer women tend to be more at risk of suffering from these tumours because of life-style factors. But, regular smear tests are crucial for reducing the risk of developing advanced cervical cancer, says lead author Dr Paul Symonds of the Department of Oncology at the University of Leicester. This in turn seems to have a bearing on the outcome of the disease. So the difference in the aggressiveness of this disease between poorer and richer women is probably because women from more deprived backgrounds often eat less fruit and vegetables, and are more likely to smoke. But the good news is that if women eat a healthy, well balanced diet and give up smoking they will be more likely to survive cervical cancer, Prof Hole adds.
Cervical cancer is three times more common in poor women than in the most affluent.
This is the first study relating the speed of tumour growth to how advanced the cancer is when diagnosed. Previously it was thought that advanced tumours were detected late because the patient hadn t had regular smears, or there was some other diagnostic delay, rather than because the tumour was growing very quickly. Before a sample of the tumour was taken, the women were given a drug which labelled any new cells made by the tumour. The researchers counted the number of labelled cells to work out how quickly the tumour was growing. They found that the more advanced tumours grew more quickly.