Cervical cancer in elderly Thais.
BACKGROUND
Neoplasm is the second most common cause of death in Thai women and cervical cancer is the most common. The prevalence of cervical cancer in Thai elderly women is unknown. What is the optimum time for a regular Papanicolaou smear check up.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study of healthy elderly women (age >60 years) who lived within a 10-kilometer radius of Siriraj Hospital was carried out. All had their history taken and were examined by vaginal examination and Papanicolaou smear for cancer screening three times; on the day of enrollment, at one-year and two-years.


RESULTS
Six hundred and eighty two women aged 60-88 years were recruited. There were 7 cases (1.0%) who had a positive Papanicolaou smear on the day of enrollment. Six cases (0.9%) had complete investigations: 2 cases (33.3%) had invasive cervical cancer stage III b, 4 cases had CIN III. There was one case out of 268 (0.4%) at one-year and one case out of 342 (0.3%) at two-years who had a positive Papanicolaou smear and the final diagnosis was CIN III.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of cervical cancer in Thai elderly women in this study was 1 per cent. Thai elderly women need a yearly Papanicolaou smear check up.
Piya-Anant
Manee
M
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Therasakvichya
Suwanit
S
Leelaphatanadit
Chairatana
C
Techatrisak
Kitirat
K
Worapitaksanond
Suporn
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*