Cervical cancer causes

Pre-cancerous cervical abnormalities

Can you get cervical cancer if not sexually active?

Who is at risk for cervical cancer?

Is HPV the only cause of cervical cancer?

Cervical cancer causes

Cervical cancer begins with abnormal changes in the cervical tissue. The risk of developing these abnormal changes is associated with infection with human papillomavirus (HPV). In addition, early sexual contact, multiple sexual partners, and taking oral contraceptives (birth control pills) increase the risk of cervical cancer because they lead to greater exposure to HPV.

Forms of HPV, a virus whose different types cause skin warts, genital warts, and other abnormal skin disorders, have been shown to lead to many of the changes in cervical cells that may eventually lead to cancer. Certain types of HPV have also been linked to cancers involving the vulva, vagina, penis, anus, tongue, and tonsils. Genetic material that comes from certain forms of HPV (high-risk subtypes) has been found in addition, women who have been diagnosed with HPV are more likely to develop a cervical cancer. Girls who begin sexual activity before age 16 or within a year of starting their menstrual periods are at high risk of developing cervical cancer. vocal tissues that show cancerous or precancerous changes.

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Pre-cancerous cervical abnormalities

Cancer of the cervix usually takes many years to develop. Before it does, the cells in the cervix often show changes.

These cervical abnormalities are known as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) or, less commonly, cervical glandular intraepithelial neoplasia (CGIN) depending on which cells are affected.

CIN and CGIN are pre-cancerous conditions. Pre-cancerous conditions do not pose an immediate threat to a person's health. But if they're not checked and treated, they can potentially develop into cancer.

However, even if you develop CIN or CGIN, the chances of them turning into cervical cancer are very small.

And if the changes are discovered during cervical screening, treatment is highly successful.

The progression from HPV infection to developing CIN or CGIN and then cervical cancer is very slow, often taking 10 to 20 years.

Can you get cervical cancer if not sexually active?

All women who have ever been sexually active are at risk for developing cervical cancer. This is because sexual activity potentially exposes you to HPV. Women who have never been sexually active rarely develop cervical cancer. 

Becoming sexually active at a young age can increase the risk for cervical cancer. Researchers think this increased risk is because the cervix changes during puberty. These changes make the area more vulnerable to damage.

Certain types of sexual behavior increase a woman’s risk of infection with HPV. Having intercourse with many partners can increase exposure to HPV, which is transmitted by sexual contact. For this reason, having many sexual partners is linked with a higher risk of cervical cancer. But a woman can have HPV even when she has had only one sexual partner.

Women also seem to be at a higher risk for developing cervical cancer if their male partners have had many sexual partners or female partners with cervical cancer.

Read more about: Risk factors for cervical cancer

Who is at risk for cervical cancer?

The following factors may raise a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer:

• Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.The most important risk factor for cervical cancer is infection with HPV. HPV is common. Most people are infected with HPV when they become sexually active, and most people clear the virus without problems. There are over 100 different types of HPV. Not all of them are linked to cancer. The HPV types, or strains, that are most frequently associated with cervical cancer are HPV16 and HPV18. Starting to have sex at an earlier age or having multiple sexual partners puts a person at higher risk of being infected with high-risk HPV types.
• Immune system deficiency. Women with lowered immune systems have a higher risk of developing cervical cancer. A lowered immune system can be caused by immune suppression from corticosteroid medications, organ transplantation, treatments for other types of cancer, or from the human. immunodeficiency virus (HIV),which is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). When a woman has HIV, her immune system is less able to fight off early cancer.
• Women who have genital herpes have a higher risk of developing cervical cancer.
• Women who smoke are about twice as likely to develop cervical cancer as women who do not smoke.
• People younger than 20 years old rarely develop cervical cancer. The risk goes up between the late teens and mid-30s. Women past this age group remain at risk and need to have regular cervical cancer screenings, which include a Pap test and/or an HPV test.
• Socioeconomic factors. Cervical cancer is more common among groups of women who are less likely to have access to screening for cervical cancer. Those populations are more likely to include black women, Hispanic women, American Indian women, and women from low-income households.
• Oral contraceptives. Some research studies suggest thatoral contraceptives, which are birth control pills, may be associated with an increase in the risk of cervical cancer. However, more research is needed to understand how oral contraceptive use and the development of cervical cancer are connected.
• Exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES). Women whose mothers were given this drug during pregnancy to prevent miscarriage have an increased risk of developing a rare type of cancer of the cervix or vagina. DES was given for this purpose from about 1940 to 1970. Women exposed to DES should have an annual pelvic examination that includes a cervical Pap test as well as a 4-quadrant Pap test, in which samples of cells are taken from all sides of the vagina to check for abnormal cells.

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Is HPV the only cause of cervical cancer?

HPV is not the only cause of cervical cancer. Most women with HPV don’t get cervical cancer, and other risk factors, like smoking and HIV infection, influence which women exposed to HPV are more likely to develop cervical cancer.

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What are the main causes of cervical cancer?

All women are at risk for cervical cancer. It occurs most often in women over age 30. Long-lasting infection with certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer. HPV is a common virus that is passed from one person to another during sex. At least half of sexually active people will have HPV at some point in their lives, but few women will get cervical cancer.