Selected clinical characteristics of Israeli Jewish women with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix: a population-based study.

BACKGROUND The age-standardized incidence rate of invasive cervical cancer in Israeli Jewish women is persistently low. Selected demographic characteristics of Israeli Jewish women with cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) were reported recently. OBJECTIVES To assess selected clinical characteristics of Israeli Jewish women with cervical SCC. METHODS Included were all Israeli Jewish women with SCC diagnosed during the 3-year period 2002-2004. Data were obtained from the Israel National Cancer Registry and the Central Population Registry. Discharge summaries of the patients were reviewed and clinical data were abstracted. RESULTS The study was based on 350 israeli Jewish women with histologically confirmed cervical SCC diagnosed during the 3-year study period. The median age of the patients was 50.3 years. The most common main complaint was discharge/bleeding (35.7%) and only a small percentage (7.4%) was diagnosed subsequent to an abnormal cytological smear. The rate of patients diagnosed in stage I was 47.7%. The overall absolute 5-year survival and survival in stage I rates were 70% and 83.8% respectively. The rate of Israeli born patients diagnosed in stage I and their overall absolute 5-year survival was significantly higher than in the other ethnic groups. CONCLUSIONS Age, the most frequent main complaint, the percent of patients diagnosed in stage I and the 5-year survival (overall and in stage I) are similar to data in other countries. The survival rate of Israeli born women seems to be better than that of other ethnic groups.