CDC report on HPV

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on April 24, 2012, an updated statistical count on the prevalence of HPV-associated cancers in the United States. Oropharyngeal cancers, primarily the base of the tongue and tonsils, were the second most common after cervical cancer.

Published in the April 20 edition of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the report, titled, ”Human Papillomavirus-Associated Cancers — United States, 2004–2008,” provides updated information from an analysis of data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program.

An average of 33,369 HPV-associated cancers were diagnosed annually (rate = 10.8 per 100,000 population), including 11,726 cases of oropharyngeal cancers. CDC estimates that about 7,400—63%—of the cases of oropharyngeal cancer each year were attributable to HPV infection. These cancers were found three times more frequently among men.

View the CDC report here.

Maps of state incidence rates of HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer Rates are available here.