Rates for cervical cancer are dropping for women as a whole, but they remain somewhat high for Hispanic women older than 30, according to scientists reporting in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) weekly journal MMWR (Vol. 51, No.47:1067-1070).

The scientists also found that all women who had cervical cancer diagnosed at age 50 and older were more likely to have advanced stage cervical cancer. Among women over 50 with a new diagnosis of cervical cancer, more than half (52%) were at an advanced stage.

Hispanic women, however, were even more likely than other women to be diagnosed at an advanced stage.

The authors said even though invasive cervical cancer can largely be prevented by regular screening, the use of Pap testing remains relatively low among Hispanic women.

The researchers looked at data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). During the years 1992 to 1999, out of 14,524 cases of invasive cervical cancer, 3,166 (22%) were among Hispanic women, and 11,358 (78%) were among non-Hispanic women.

Regardless of the stage of disease at diagnosis, incidences for Hispanic women were about twice those for non-Hispanic women.

The authors said efforts to reduce invasive cervical cancer rates should focus on culturally appropriate public health programs used to encourage women to seek the most effective way to prevent the disease — screening.

"The decrease in incidence of localized and advanced stage cervical cancer for both Hispanic and non-Hispanic women in the US reflects the widespread use of cervical cancer screening services," the authors wrote.

Just last month, the American Cancer Society (ACS) released new guidelines addressing when and how often women should get early detection tests for cervical cancer and pre-cancer.

With the release of the guidelines, Mary A. Simmonds, MD, FACP, the ACS national volunteer president said, "It is important to emphasize that the biggest gain in reducing cervical cancer incidence and mortality would be achieved by increasing screening rates among women who have not been screened or who have not been screened regularly."

The guidelines were presented in an article in CA, A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (Vol. 52, No. 6: 342-359). The authors of this article underscored the importance of finding opportunities for screening women of low income or low education, and women who are uninsured and underinsured.

The ACS estimates that 13,000 women will develop invasive cervical cancer this year, and about 4,100 women will die of the disease.