Dysplasias of uterine cervix: epidemiological aspects: role of age at first coitus and use of oral contraceptives.
Age at first coitus and use of oral contraceptives were studied in a highly homogeneous population (French Canadian) during a cytologic cervical cancer screening program. Both factors were known in 84,540 women without cervical lesions and in 2017 patients with mild and moderate dysplasia. Highly significant correlations were found between: early onset of sexual activity and occurrence of dysplasia; oral contraceptive use and occurrence of dysplasia; early age at first coitus and oral contraceptive use. When correlated for age at first coitus, there was a significant excess of dysplasias in oral contraceptive users. Dysplasia of the uterine cervix behaves epidemiologically like carcinoma in situ and invasive squamous carcinoma, that is, essentially as a venereal disease. It remains to be seen whether all dysplasias form one continuum or whether there are two morphologically similar but biologically distinct forms of dysplasia: one more frequent, regressing spontaneously, the other relatively rare, progressing to carcinoma in situ and invasive squamous carcinoma of the cervix.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000209:etiology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000209:etiology; D003075:Coitus; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011792:Quebec; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral