Age of Sexual Debut and Risk of Cervical Cancer: A meta-analysis

Cervical cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of death among women worldwide. Age at sexual debut along with number of sexual partners has been established as potential risk factors for cervical cancer. However, studies have been limited in specifically assessing whether age of sexual debut can predict time to cervical cancer onset. In this Meta analysis, we reviewed the published literature for age of sexual debut and risk of cervical cancer. 6 case-control studies were identified through mesh term searches of Pubmed and Medline. All 6 studies showed that women are at risk for cervical cancer at a younger age if age at sexual debut occurs early on. Results from a fixed effects Meta analysis gave a pooled risk estimate of 3.4 (95% CI: 2.9-3.9). A test for heterogeneity suggested that variability was low enough that a random effects model was not necessary (q2=14.8). Our findings are consistent with a recently published pooled analysis demonstrating that the risk for cervical cancer increased with earlier age at intercourse. Our study shows that early age of sexual debut may be predictive of early age at cervical cancer onset.