What you should know E very year, an estimated 14,500 women in the United States are told they have cervical cancer and approximately 5,000 die from the disease. But with screenings and education, women can better protect themselves, says Michael Regan, M.D. , a gynecologic oncologist at Advocate's Christ Hospital and Medical Center. Cervical cancer most commonly occurs in women between the ages of 30 and 55, but it can affect younger and older women as well. Your risk increases with the number of sexual partners you have because the odds of contracting HPV also increase. The age at which you start having sexual intercourse also affects your risk.
Tobacco use increases the risk for cancer of the cervix as well.
Since the Pap smear came into use in the early 1940s, the death rate for women with cervical cancer has decreased by 70 percent. This is largely because the test can detect abnormal precancerous cells on the cervix at an early noninvasive stage, when a cure is most likely. If your Pap smear is abnormal, your doctor may perform a colposcopy, a test that uses an instrument with a special magnifying glass to examine the surface of the cervix. Your doctor also may take a sample, or biopsy, of cervical tissue. If the biopsy determines there's a precancerous condition, the next step is treatment to prevent the progression to an invasive cancer.