Should Women Older Than 65 Be Screened for Cervical Cancer? A New Study Says Yes

Source: New Orleans Health & Health Care More women older than 65 are being diagnosed with cervical cancer than ever before. Now experts are calling for updated cancer screening guidelines that include older female patients. Dr. Sarah Dilley, co-author of a new study that underscores the need for updated guidelines, said she decided to pursue the study after noticing many of the patients coming into the clinic where she is a fellow in gynecologic oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham were older than 65. “Cervical cancer is typically thought of as a disease that happens to women in their 40s,” Dilley said. About one in five women diagnosed with cervical cancer in the U.S. is older than 65, according to data from the National Cancer Database. Women age 65 and older accounted for 19.7 percent of all cervical cancer cases from 2000 to 2014. By comparison, 5.1 percent of cervical cancer cases were