A Thirty-year Review of Vulvar Cancer in Jamaica, 1978 to 2007

To evaluate the trends in vulvar cancer between 1978 and 2007 in Kingston and St Andrew, Jamaica, with respect to age-standardized rates and histologic types.

All cases of vulvar cancer recorded in the Jamaica Cancer Registry from 1978 to 2007 were extracted and analysed for age distribution and histologic type.

There were 78 cases (one person of unknown age) of vulvar cancer recorded over the 30-year period. Sixty per cent of the affected patients were between 50 and 80 years old. The most common histologic type of vulvar malignancy was squamous cell carcinoma (82%). There was a decline in age-standardized incidence rates of both vulvar cancers overall and vulvar squamous cell carcinoma over the 30-year period.

Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common vulvar malignancy in the Jamaican population, and affects primarily older women. Despite high prevalence rates of high-risk human papillomavirus infection, no increase in the age-standardized incidence of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma was identified.