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.

METHOD: 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.

CONCLUSION

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.