Invasive cervical carcinoma in patients aged 35 or younger

There has been concern that invasive cervical carcinoma is more aggressive in young women. We studied retrospectively 36 patients who were less than 35 years old (mean age 30.8 years, range 22-35 years, SD 3.6), and 36 controls (mean age 59.4 years, range 40-72 years, SD 9.5), treated for invasive cervical carcinoma between 1976 and 1986. Histologically 31 (86%) were squamous cell carcinomas and 5 (14%) were adenocarcinomas both in the patients aged 35 years or younger and in the control group. Clinical findings and rates of pelvic lymph nodes metastases were comparable in both groups. Compared to controls, patients aged 35 or younger had longer intervals from diagnosis to recurrence (20.3 months vs. 9.0 months), longer intervals from recurrence to death (15.3 months vs. 7.0 months), and longer intervals from diagnosis to death (39.6 months vs 20.0 months). There was no difference between the groups in the 5-year survival (75% vs. 81%). In conclusion, we found no evidence that the overall clinical behaviour of invasive cervical cancer is more aggressive in young women.