A new study by the New England Journal of Medicine says that condoms reduce the risk of cervical cancer in sexually active women.
According to an 82-person study, women whose partners always used condoms were 70 percent less likely to develop a human papillomavirus infection or HPV, than those whose partners used them fewer than 5 percent of the time.
HPV, which infects about half of all sexually active adults, is usually harmless. But is also known to cause the growth of abnormal cells in a woman’s cervix which can then become cancerous. Early detection through pap smears have been key to its high survival rates for those infected.
The study tracked 82 University of Washington women who kept online diaries about their sexual activity and health and underwent gynecological examinations every four months for a year.
According to recent government studies, there were about 10,520 new cases of invasive cervical cancer in the U.S. in 2004, resulting in about 3,900 deaths. About 500,000 cases are diagnosed worldwide each year.
Due to routine screenings of pap tests, the number of deaths from cervical cancer dropped 43 percent between 1974 and 1995, according to one study. The five-year survival rate for all stages of cervical cancer is roughly 70 percent.
African-Americans have a disproportionate number of deaths from cervical cancer, of about 6.7 per 100,000 people, compared to 2.5 per 100,000 for white women. Hispanic and Native American women also have above average death rates.
Researchers cautioned that HPV causes genital warts and has no cure, thus any treatment is meant to reduce such outbreaks.
HPV is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact with an infected person and is usually from vaginal, oral or anal sexual contact, whether or not genital warts are present, scientists said.
