[Cervical cancer has increased in Sweden in women who had a normal cell sample]

Cervical cancer has increased in Sweden in recent years. The increase is 17% in 2014-15 compared to the reference period 2002-13. The increase is largest for adenocarcinoma (+ 31%) and shows remarkable differences between counties, from continued incidence decreases to increases of >80%. The increase is seen in most ages that are offered screening, but is confined to early stage cancers and there is no increase in mortality. Population test coverage of screening has increased since 2002. The Swedish National Cervical Screening Registry has analysed the increase in relation to screening history. The most significant increase (+ 30%) is seen in women who had a normal cervical smear (P < 0.0001) in the preceding screening interval. The cancer risk for women who previously had a high grade abnormality has also increased (P = 0.0009). Data from several laboratories still show very low cancer risk following normal cytology, indicating that the increase is related to factors that can be addressed. All data on re-review of samples taken before cancer and high grade intraepithelial neoplasia will be requested and nationally analyzed to further elucidate the exact cause.