BACKGROUND. Recent interest in human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers
and the availability of several years of data covering 83% of the US population
prompted this descriptive assessment of cervical cancer incidence and mortality
in the US during the years 1998 through 2003. This article provides a baseline for
monitoring the impact of the HPV vaccine on the burden of cervical cancer over
time.
METHODS. Data from 2 federal cancer surveillance programs, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Program of Cancer Registries and
the National Cancer Institiute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program,
were used to examine cervical cancer incidence by race, Hispanic ethnicity,
histology, stage, and US census region. Data from the CDC’s National Center for
Health Statistics were used to examine cervical cancer mortality by race, Hispanic
ethnicity, and US census region.