Magnitude of persistent poverty and cervical cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis, and mortality

Socioeconomically disadvantaged counties exhibit higher cervical cancer incidence and poorer survival. However, the specific impact of the magnitude of persistent poverty on these outcomes remains largely unexamined. Using national cancer registry data, we observed that women living in persistent poverty counties (PPCs) that have experienced extreme poverty (≥40% poverty) has more than 1.5 times higher cervical cancer incidence and twice the mortality rate vs women who lived in non-PPCs. Furthermore, stage-specific incidence was consistently higher in PPCs across localized, regional, and distant diagnoses. Five-year mortality for localized cervical cancer diagnoses was nearly twice as high in extreme poverty counties (11% vs 6%, two-sided p-value = 0.03). These findings highlight significant disparities in cervical cancer outcomes associated with increasing magnitude of persistent poverty and underscore the need for targeted interventions in economically vulnerable communities to reduce disparities and achieve cervical cancer elimination goals.