A research team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion analyzed the disparities in survival that exist for patients with cancers caused by human papillomavirus. Their study was published in the Cancer journal, and it indicates that that are large disparities by age, race or sex.
“This new study shows that race, sex, and age can make a difference in surviving HPV-associated cancers. There are things that people can do to avoid getting an HPV-related cancer, or to help improve their chances of survival such as getting the HPV vaccine when recommended at the age of 11 or 12 years old (or as early as age 9 and as late as age 26); getting screened for cervical cancer at the recommended ages; and for those who have been diagnosed with an HPV-associated cancer, working with their healthcare provider to create a personalized plan for care. Health care providers can take steps to assure that they are offering the recommended screening and treatment, regardless of a patient’s race, age or sex,” declared co-author Mona Saraiya, MD, MPH. ”
Survival rates vary
The investigators analyzed cases that were diagnosed from 2001-2011 and they followed them through 2011. They managed to cover almost 59 percent of the US population, which made the results even more accurate.
They discovered that older people that were diagnosed with HPV cancer usually died sooner than younger people, and men that had an HPV-associated cancer of the anus died sooner than the women that had the same diagnosis.
Also, the biggest differences were for those that had less than 60 years and suffered from oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. When it comes to race, five-year relative survival was more common for white persons than black persons.
