Young women gain on cancer.

Between 1973 and 1999, the annual incidence of invasive cervical cancer among U.S. women younger than 30 declined from nearly two to 1.3 per 100,000 women; analysts studying surveillance data from the National Cancer Institute estimate that the annual reduction was nearly 1%. (1) Trends for the two most common types of cervical cancer differed: The incidence of squamous cell carcinoma followed the overall pattern, declining by about 1% per year, from 1.3 to less than one per 100,000. By contrast, the incidence of adenocarcinoma increased by almost 3% annually, from less than 0.1 per 100,000 to 0.2 per 100,000; it leveled off, however, after 1990. The analysts contend that if the findings are valid, they may reflect that aggressive screening among young women is compensating for increases in the prevalence of several risk factors for cervical cancer. Striking a balance between effective screening and increasing risk factors, they add, "might result in a stable trend over time."

(1.) Chan PG, Sung H-Y and Sawaya GF, Changes in cervical cancer incidence after three decades of screening US women less than 30 years old, Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2003, 102(4): 765-773.