- Women ages 65 and older account for nearly 25 percent of all cervical cancer cases and 41 percent of cervical cancer deaths in the United States.
- Women ages 65 and older have a cervical cancer incidence rate of 16.8 per 100,000, compared to 7.4 for women younger than 65. The incidence rate is the number of newly diagnosed cancers per 100,000 population during a specific period of time (usually one year).
- Women ages 65 and older have a cervical cancer mortality rate of 9.3 per 100,000, compared to 2.2 for women younger than 65. The mortality rate is the number of deaths due to a certain type of cancer per 100,000 population during a specific period of time (usually one year).
- More than one-half (51%) of all women ages 65 and older have not had a Pap test in the past 3 years.
- Many older women experience barriers to regular Pap test screening, which include: lack of knowledge about testing frequency; anxiety that the test might be painful or embarrassing; underestimation of personal risk for cervical cancer; fear of test results; language and cultural barriers;
Older women representing minority populations are at particular risk for developing cervical cancer.
- The incidence rate and the mortality rate of cervical cancer for African American women ages 65 and older are more than two times greater than those for white women of the same age group (34.4 and 23.3 per 100,000 women, respectively, compared to 14.7 and 8.0 for white women).
- Hispanic women ages 65 and older also have a higher incidence rate and mortality rate of cervical cancer than do white women (27.6 and 11.6 per 100,000 women, respectively).
