Variation in incidence and outcome of cervical cancer in the Netherlands: Studies based on cancer registry data

Abstract

In the Netherlands, approximately 2% of all newly diagnosed malignant tumours in women are cancers of the uterine cervix, corresponding to about 700 new cases of invasive carcinoma per year. A general practitioner sees a patient with newly diagnosed cervical cancer only once in 15 years and this may vary between once in 10 to once in 25 years. Every year about 250 women die from cervical cancer, which is about 1.5% of all deaths in women caused by cancer. However, partly due to the mass screening programme, incidence and mortality rates are decreasing and cervical cancer definitely is a decreasing problem. Just like in most other industrialized countries with some degree of screening, ce