Increasing risk of uterine cervical cancer among young Japanese women: Comparison of incidence trends in Japan, South Korea and Japanese‐Americans between 1985 and 2012

Abstract

In Japan, cervical cancer incidence has increased since the late 1990s especially among young women, despite a decreasing trend in most developed countries. Here, we examined age, period and birth cohort trends in cervical cancer incidence rates from 1985 to 2012. Incidence rates were ascertained using three population-based cancer registries and analyzed using Joinpoint regression and age-period-cohort models. We compared the findings in Japan to trends among Japanese-Americans in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registries and among women in South Korea using the Korea Central Registry. Age-standardized incidence rates in Japan decreased by 1.7% per year (95% confidence interval − 3.3%, 0.0%) until 1997 and thereafter increased by 2.6% per year (1.1%, 4.2%). Incidence rates increased among women under age 50, were stable among women aged 50-54, and decreased or remained stable among women aged 55 and over. The age-standardized incidence rate ratio by birth cohort showed a U-shaped pattern with the lowest rates in women born in the late 1930s and 1940s. In comparison, women born before 1920 and after 1970 had about double the incidence. Increasing risk in recent birth cohorts was not evident in Japanese-American or South Korean women. The trends in Japan may be attributable to increasing prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among young women. Screening and vaccination have been shown to be highly effective and would help reverse these trends.

Comparison of ThinPrep Integrated Imager-Assisted Screening versus Manual Screening of ThinPrep Liquid-Based Cytology Specimens

“…Under such circumstances, the study of the ThinPrep Imaging System has only seen reports from Korea [12] so far in the Asia-Pacific region, but this study is the first report that has been studied in earnest in Japan in the Asia-Pacific region. Computer-assisted automatic screening support system, especially the ThinPrep Imaging System and ThinPrep Integrated Imager, is highly expected to become an effective new tool in the future for cervical cancer screening with various issues in modern-day Japan [18-21].…”

Prognosis for different patterns of distant metastases in patients with uterine cervical cancer: a population-based analysis

“…The incidence decreased in the developed countries in recent decades due to the HPV prevention strategy and cervical cancer screening [1]. However, as previously reported, the incidence of UCC increased by 2.6% per year (1.1%, 4.2%) in Japan after 1997 [2]. It was also thought to be a crucial problem in other countries [1,3] and the UCC patients lost workdays annually up to 8 years after diagnosis [4].…”

Genomic alterations in STK11 can predict clinical outcomes in cervical cancer patients

“…The incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in Asians from developed nations is higher than that in European/US countries [1]. Notably, the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer is high in Japan because of the lack of approval for the newest nine-valent HPV vaccine [20]; more than 10,000 particularly young Japanese women are newly diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer every year [21], and 2700 cervical cancer patients do not survive. However, the frequency and distribution of actionable mutations in cancer-related genes, including those in PIK3CA and KRAS, in Asian patients is still unclear.…”