Meisels A, Bégin R, Schneider V. Dysplasias of uterine cervix: epidemiological aspects: role of age at first coitus and use of oral contraceptives.
Cancer 1977;
40:3076-81. [PMID:
589567 DOI:
10.1002/1097-0142(197712)40:6<3076::aid-cncr2820400647>3.0.co;2-u]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Age at first coitus and use of oral contraceptives were studied in a highly homogeneous population (French Canadian) during a cytologic cervical cancer screening program. Both factors were known in 84,540 women without cervical lesions and in 2017 patients with mild and moderate dysplasia. Highly significant correlations were found between: early onset of sexual activity and occurrence of dysplasia; oral contraceptive use and occurrence of dysplasia; early age at first coitus and oral contraceptive use. When correlated for age at first coitus, there was a significant excess of dysplasias in oral contraceptive users. Dysplasia of the uterine cervix behaves epidemiologically like carcinoma in situ and invasive squamous carcinoma, that is, essentially as a venereal disease. It remains to be seen whether all dysplasias form one continuum or whether there are two morphologically similar but biologically distinct forms of dysplasia: one more frequent, regressing spontaneously, the other relatively rare, progressing to carcinoma in situ and invasive squamous carcinoma of the cervix.
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