Cervical Cancer 2010-2019: An Upper Midwest Catchment of 40,000 Square Miles

American Indian (AI) women have a higher incidence and mortality from cervical cancer than non-Hispanic White (NHW) women in the US. This article's purpose is to detail the clinical events in the cervical cancer prevention continuum among the AI and White women with cervical cancer on the US frontier.

A cancer center with a nearly 40,000 square-mile catchment area maintained a detailed cancer registry connected to the clinic records of all cervical cancer patients between 2010-2019. This catchment area provided records of both an AI and a White population. Descriptive and inferential statistics and modeling predictions detailed the prevention continuum.

Among the 126 with cervical cancer, 20% were AI, and 78% were White. Sixty percent did not participate in cervical cancer screening within the 5 years before their diagnosis, and on average, 9.2 years passed since the last cervical cancer screening. 91% presented with symptoms, and most women presented with 2 or more symptoms. Thirteen percent underwent a colposcopic diagnostic step, significantly delaying the time to diagnosis compared to other diagnostic steps. Sixty-nine percent of the histopathologic diagnoses were squamous cell carcinoma, and 27% were adenocarcinoma. Forty-nine percent presented at stage I regardless of histopathology. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy were most commonly combined. Sixty-three percent of the population survived, and 42% survived at least 3 years from diagnosis. Younger age and earlier stages at diagnosis were the significant adjusted predictors of survival.

The authors' detailed cervical cancer prevention continuum events provide new data questioning the use of colposcopy for women symptomatic at presentation.