 | | | | | Cervical Cancer More info on this condition | |
| | | Risk Factors | | | | | There are several factors that are known to contribute to a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer. They include:
- No Pap smear screening
- Infrequent Pap smears
- Multiple sexual partners
- Intercourse before age 18
- Intercourse with partners who have genital warts caused by human papillomavirus (HPV)
- Intercourse with partners who have had multiple sexual partners
- Smoking cigarettes
- Compromised immune system (e.g., AIDS or cancer or transplant recipient)
In addition to underscoring the importance of regular Pap tests, the risk factors also demonstrate the relationship between cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, which is transmitted sexually. DNA from HPV is found in 93 percent of cervical cancers as well as precancerous cellular changes, according to the NIH Consensus Development Statement on Cervical Cancer.
Many studies have found that HPV infection is the major risk factor for pre-cancerous cell changes, also called squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), as well as invasive cervical cancer. These cell changes are referred to collectively as dysplasia. Twenty-three of the 70 identified types of HPV infect the uterine cervix and only half of these are associated with SIL or invasive cervical cancer. The low-risk types are HPV 6 and 11. The most common high-risk types, HPV 16, 18, 31 and 45, are associated with more than 80 percent of all invasive cervical cancers. Among women infected with HPV who develop SIL, 41 percent will develop disease that persists and 25 percent will have disease progression. Of these progressing lesions, 10 percent become carcinoma in situ (carcinoma confined to its original site of growth) and 1 percent invasive cancer.
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