Background: The process of social, political and economic transformation, which took place in Central and Eastern Europe in the early 90's, has affected many spheres of Europeans' lives, including health-associated issues. These changes also had an impact on mortality rates due to cervical cancer (CC). Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse CC mortality trends in Europe after 1990.
Methods: Data on death due to CC, uterine cancers and unspecified uterine cancers, in women aged 20-44, were taken from the WHO Mortality Database. Trends in European countries between 1990 and 2017 were assessed using the Joinpoint Regression Program.
Results: Most of the countries experienced a decrease in CC mortality. Although the lowest rates were observed in EU15 Member States, the highest decreases were observed in Central and Eastern Europe. However, there are still differences in mortality in these countries. There are also a few countries like Belarus, Latvia and Ukraine, which experienced an increase in mortality. The range of mortality across Europe in 2017 was between 0.6 and 5.2/100,000 women.
Conclusions: It is essential to introduce well-organised screening programmes for early detection of CC with coverage of a correspondingly high percentage of the population, particularly in East-Central Europe, as well as to introduce high-coverage HPV vaccination in all European countries.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; Cervix uteri; Epidemiology; Europe; Mortality; Neoplasm; Time trends.
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