title: Worldwide burden of cervical cancer in 2008.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The knowledge that persistent human papillomavirus infection is the main cause of cervical cancer has resulted in the development of assays that detect nucleic acids of the virus and prophylactic vaccines. Up-to-date and reliable data are needed to assess impact of existing preventive measures and to define priorities for the future.
  
  
  METHODS
  Best estimates on cervical cancer incidence and mortality are presented using recently compiled data from cancer and mortality registries for the year 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were an estimated 530,000 cases of cervical cancer and 275,000 deaths from the disease in 2008. It is the third most common female cancer ranking after breast (1.38 million cases) and colorectal cancer (0.57 million cases). The incidence of cervical cancer varies widely among countries with world age-standardised rates ranging from <1 to >50 per 100,000. Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death among women in Eastern, Western and Middle Africa; Central America; South-Central Asia and Melanesia. The highest incidence rate is observed in Guinea, with ∼6.5% of women developing cervical cancer before the age of 75 years. India is the country with the highest disease frequency with 134,000 cases and 73 000 deaths. Cervical cancer, more than the other major cancers, affects women <45 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In spite of effective screening methods, cervical cancer continues to be a major public health problem. New methodologies of cervical cancer prevention should be made available and accessible for women of all countries through well-organised programmes.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium; European Cooperation on Development and Implementation of Cancer Screening and Prevention Guidelines, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France; Health-Economic Modelling of Prevention Strategies for HPV-Related Diseases in European Countries, Free University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: marc.arbyn@wiv-isp.be.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arbyn
authors.affiliation: Health-Economic Modelling of Prevention Strategies for HPV-Related Diseases in European Countries, Free University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Unit of Infections and Cancer, Catalonian Institute of Oncology, Barcelona; Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Castellsagué
authors.affiliation: Health-Economic Modelling of Prevention Strategies for HPV-Related Diseases in European Countries, Free University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Unit of Infections and Cancer, Catalonian Institute of Oncology, Barcelona; Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Sanjosé
authors.affiliation: Health-Economic Modelling of Prevention Strategies for HPV-Related Diseases in European Countries, Free University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Unit of Infections and Cancer, Catalonian Institute of Oncology, Barcelona; Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bruni
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saraiya
authors.affiliation: Section of Cancer Information, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bray
authors.affiliation: Section of Cancer Information, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferlay
mesh_terms: D052685:Alphapapillomavirus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology