Photo: hospital, about dts
Wiesbaden (dts) – In 2017, 14,509 women with the diagnosis of cervical cancer were treated in hospital in Germany. The number of inpatient treatments declined compared to 2007 (-10 percent), the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Tuesday. Almost half of the patients affected in 2017 were between 45 and 65 years old, a further quarter older than 65 years.
From 2007 to 2017, an average of 1,570 women died of cervical cancer each year, or 1.5 percent of all women who died of cancer, according to the statistics office. For comparison: Breast cancer is the most common cancer with fatality in women with a share of 19 percent. In 2017, 18,400 women died of breast cancer, the statisticians continue. Cervical cancer is almost exclusively caused by sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV). In most cases, HPV infections heal themselves. However, chronic infections with so-called high-risk types can trigger cancer: in women, cancer of the cervix is the third most common form of cancer in the female genital organs. In men, HPV infection can cause mouth and throat cancer. In 2017, significantly more men (39,289) than women (14,871) came to the hospital for treatment due to malignant neoplasm on the lip, in the oral cavity and in the throat, according to the Federal Office. Possible other risk factors for this cancer can also be excessive tobacco and / or alcohol consumption. In order to prevent the development of cervical cancer in particular, the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) has recommended HPV vaccination for girls between the ages of 9 and 14 since 2007. Since 2018, this vaccination recommendation also applies to boys.
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