Presently, the age-group of those suffering from cervical cancer ranges from 35 years to 60 years.
Hyderabad: Elderly women in the age group of 54 to 60 years are going to suffer from cervical cancer which will see a peak according to a study carried out by Queen’s Mary University.
The study carried out in various centres in the West found that it was going to decline by 75 per cent in the young and there would not be death due to the use of human papillomavirus vaccine.
Presently, the age-group of those suffering from cervical cancer ranges from 35 years to 60 years.
While in the West, the young are identified, in India the cases seen are only in second and third stage and they come in the age-group of 55 to 60 years.
Dr N Parvataneni, senior consultant surgical oncologist, explained, “Opting for vaccine will help as it helps to develop immunity against the virus. By the age of 50 years, approximately 80 per cent of the women are infected with some type of human papillomavirus (HPV). Majority of them will not develop cervical cancer because all HPV viruses are not cancer causing viruses. There are only three major HPV viruses which cause cancer and if these are present it becomes cancerous. Hence vaccination is going to provide immunity to a large number of women.”
But as the elderly women have not been vaccinated there is a scope for the incidence of these cases to reach its peak in 2040 but after which it will subside.
Experts state that the West is already having a large number of women vaccinated but the same is not the case in India. Hence the incidence in India will have to be monitored for a much longer time.
One woman dies of cervical cancer every 8 minutes in India and it is the second most common cancer.
There are 1,30,000 new cases registered every year and deaths continue to be high.
