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Disparities and Cervical Cancer

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Toward the Elimination of Cancer Disparities

Cervical cancer became a preventable disease with the introduction of the Papanicolaou smear (Pap smear) in the 1940s. Trend data show that incidence rates have decreased steadily over the past several decades in both white and African American women living in the United States (American Cancer Society 2007). Mortality rates have declined steadily over the past several decades as well due to screening-related prevention and early detection (American Cancer Society 2007). Despite these trends, however, striking social and racial/ethnic inequities affect the entire cervical cancer continuum in different domains, including prevention, vaccination, diagnosis, follow-up, treatment, and survival (del Carmen et al. 2007; Newmann et al. 2005).

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  1. Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

    Marcela del Carmen & Teresa Diaz-Montez

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  1. Marcela del Carmen
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    del Carmen, M., Diaz-Montez, T. (2009). Disparities and Cervical Cancer. In: Koh, H. (eds) Toward the Elimination of Cancer Disparities. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89443-0_9

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