Cervical cancer test fears

• Every year in the UK, over 3,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and nearly 1,000 women will die from the disease.
• Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women aged 35 and under.
• Cervical cancer is not thought to be hereditary.

• Cervical cancer, in 99.7% of cases, is caused by persistent infection with a virus called human papillomavirus (HPV).
• Around 4 out of 5 people (80%) will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives.
• However, for the majority of women this will not result in cervical cancer.

• Cervical cancer is rare while HPV infection is common.
• Cervical screening is the process of taking a sample of cells from your cervix which are then examined to detect abnormalities that might develop into cancer in the future.

Visit www.jostrust.org.uk for more information about cervical cancer

• Uptake of smear tests in women aged 60 to 64 is at a 15 year low.
• One in every three women aged 25 to 29 will ignore or delay their invitation to be screened.

• The uptake among women aged 60 to 64 fell to 72.7% in 2012, a drop of 5.3% from its peak in 2007.
• Only 63% of younger women attended a screening last year.

Source: Jo's Cervical Cancer

The number of women taking a smear test to detect early signs of cervical cancer has declined, a charity has warned.

Jo's Cervical Cancer has warned that the uptake of smear tests in women aged 60 to 64 is at a 15 year low.

The charity also said it was troubled about the number of younger women who do not attend cervical screenings.

One in every three women aged 25 to 29 will ignore or delay their invitation to be screened, a spokeswoman said.