Delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer in young women.

This study aims to determine whether women under 35 years presenting with cervical cancer experience delays between presentation and diagnosis. All women referred with cervical cancer to the gynaecological cancer centre for the North London Cancer Network from January 2002 to December 2004 were identified retrospectively. Clinical presentation and time interval from symptoms to diagnosis were compared between women under and women over 35 years. A total of 105 women were included. Median age at diagnosis was 45 years (range 23--88). Twenty-two women (19%) were under 35 years at presentation and 17 had persistent symptoms prior to diagnosis. Median time from initial presentation to diagnosis in this group was 9 months (range 3--24 months); significantly longer than in the older group (9 vs 2 months; p=0.0009). Although cervical cancer is relatively rare in young women, diagnosis should be considered in symptomatic women as delay can limit treatment options.