1038 U.S. TRENDS IN MORTALITY FROM CARCINOMA OF CERVIX
SIR,-Yulel has reported a decrease in the number of deaths due to cancer of the cervix among women aged 35-54 years in England and Wales between 1970 and 1976. Among younger women the number of such deaths rose during the same period, a trend attributed in part to the "early onset of sexual activity", "increased use of non-barrier contraceptives" and "the possiblity that pre-invasive phase of carcinoma of the cervix may be shorter in younger women". These findings prompted a review of U.S. data. Table I shows annual mortality-rates by 10-year and other age-groups for the period 1970-76 and the corresponding
(U.S.) BY POPULATION)
MORTALITY-RATES FROM CARCINOMA OF THE CERVIX
(PER
AGE AND YEAR
1000 000
FEMALE
The above findings warrant further studies on the future pattern of cervical-cancer mortality and on the reasons for the observed increase in carcinoma of the cervix in young women. Division of Biometrics, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland 20857, U.S.A.
C. ANELLO C.LAO
PATHOGENIC ENTAMŒBA HISTOLYTICA
SIR,-It was gratifying to read your editorial of Feb. 10 (p. 303) commenting on advances in the evaluation of pathogenicity in strains of amoebae. Of course, if the amceba is caught with his hands in the till-i.e., with ingested erythrocytesthere can be little doubt of its guilt. In insisting on such a criterion for the label Entamceba histolytica, the pioneers taught better than they knew. Had such a dictum been sustained, much misdiagnosis and consequent suffering would have been avoided.
I
Source: Vital Statistics of the United States (Yearbook 1970-76); mortality, vol. 11, part A. Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics. (For example, in the 1971 yearbook, the U.S. female population is from table 6-3, technical appendix. The deaths are from table 1-26. The age-groups are reconstructed.) Rates are rounded off to one decimal point for ages 25 or more.
*Computed assuming linear trend. tp
SIR,-Yulel has reported a decrease in the number of deaths due to cancer of the cervix among women aged 35-54 years in England and Wales between 1970 and 1976. Among younger women the number of such deaths rose during the same period, a trend attributed in part to the "early onset of sexual activity", "increased use of non-barrier contraceptives" and "the possiblity that pre-invasive phase of carcinoma of the cervix may be shorter in younger women". These findings prompted a review of U.S. data. Table I shows annual mortality-rates by 10-year and other age-groups for the period 1970-76 and the corresponding
(U.S.) BY POPULATION)
MORTALITY-RATES FROM CARCINOMA OF THE CERVIX
(PER
AGE AND YEAR
1000 000
FEMALE
The above findings warrant further studies on the future pattern of cervical-cancer mortality and on the reasons for the observed increase in carcinoma of the cervix in young women. Division of Biometrics, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland 20857, U.S.A.
C. ANELLO C.LAO
PATHOGENIC ENTAMŒBA HISTOLYTICA
SIR,-It was gratifying to read your editorial of Feb. 10 (p. 303) commenting on advances in the evaluation of pathogenicity in strains of amoebae. Of course, if the amceba is caught with his hands in the till-i.e., with ingested erythrocytesthere can be little doubt of its guilt. In insisting on such a criterion for the label Entamceba histolytica, the pioneers taught better than they knew. Had such a dictum been sustained, much misdiagnosis and consequent suffering would have been avoided.
I
Source: Vital Statistics of the United States (Yearbook 1970-76); mortality, vol. 11, part A. Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics. (For example, in the 1971 yearbook, the U.S. female population is from table 6-3, technical appendix. The deaths are from table 1-26. The age-groups are reconstructed.) Rates are rounded off to one decimal point for ages 25 or more.
*Computed assuming linear trend. tp
