Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Statistics About Cervical Cancer

Some people use numbers called statistics to figure out their chances of getting cancer. Or they use them to try to figure out their chance of being cured. Statistics show what happens with large groups of people. But statistics can't be used to know or predict what will happen to a particular person. That's because no two people are alike.

These are some 2012 statistics about cervical cancer in the U.S. They come from the American Cancer Society's Cancer Facts & Figures:

• About 12,170 women will find out they have invasive cervical cancer this year.

• This year, about 4,220 women will die from cervical cancer.

• Incidence rates have declined over most of the past several decades in both white and African-American women.

• Nearly all women with cervical cancer have been infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV).

• The death rate from cervical cancer continues to decrease each year due to prevention and early detection as a result of screening with the Pap test.