Human Papillomavirus Causes 25,000 US Cancer Cases Annually

Cervical cancer is most common, but human papillomavirus causes several other cancers

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- There were approximately 25,000 cases of cancer in the United States each year from 1998 to 2003 attributable to infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), according to the first estimate of HPV-associated cancers compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the Nov. 15 supplement to the journal Cancer.

Mona Saraiya, M.D., of CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in Atlanta, and colleagues write that the 22 articles provide a comprehensive snapshot of data on cancers associated with HPV, and comprise data for the whole population as well as vulnerable subgroups.

Cervical cancer accounted for the greatest number of HPV-associated cancers, with approximately 10,800 cases a year, the researchers found. The incidence rate for cervical cancer was 14.2 for Hispanic women, 12.6 for black women and 8.4 for white and non-Hispanic women, the data revealed. There were also nearly 7,400 potentially HPV-associated cases of oral cavity and oropharynx cancers a year, and 2,300 new cases of vulvar cancer a year.

"A few years ago, the National Coordinating Council for Cancer Surveillance developed a national framework for cancer surveillance in the U.S. This supplement represents the application of this cancer surveillance framework to HPV-associated cancers," the authors write. "To be effective, cancer surveillance requires coordination and cooperation among government, professional, non-profit and private organizations, and the articles contained in this supplement demonstrate the success that can be achieved through such collective efforts."

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