Thousands of women could be offered screening for a little-discussed cancer, after a major study revealed survivors of another cancer face elevated risks years later.
The research focused on anal cancer, which remains rare but is rising fastest in older women – and found that those who have previously had cervical cancer are at significantly higher risk.
Current guidelines recommend screening for certain high-risk groups, including people with HIV and women with a history of vulvar cancer.
But doctors say a crucial group is being overlooked, as cases of the disease continue to climb.
Rates are rising most sharply among women over 65, with cases in this age group increasing by around 4 per cent a year.
One of the most famous cases was American actress Farrah Fawcett – a 1970s TV icon best known for Charlie’s Angels.
She revealed her anal cancer diagnosis in 2006, which at the time sparked tabloid speculation about her sex life because of the stigma surrounding the disease.
Fawcett died in 2009, aged 62, after the cancer spread.
One of the most famous cases was American actress Farrah Fawcett – a 1970s TV icon best known for Charlie’s Angels (pictured with her long-term partner, actor Ryan O’Neal)
Fawcett revealed her cancer diagnosis in 2006, which at the time sparked tabloid speculation about her sex life. Fawcett died in 2009, aged 62, after the cancer spread
If the trend continues, oncologists at the US National Cancer Institute warn numbers could double in less than 20 years.
Now researchers led by Dr Haluk Damgacioglu, an expert in disease modelling at the Medical University of South Carolina, say women who have survived cervical cancer should also be considered high risk.
In their study, more than 85,500 women diagnosed with cervical cancer between 1975 and 2021 were tracked for an average of nine years.
Those already diagnosed with anal cancer, or who developed it within two months of their cervical cancer diagnosis, were excluded from the study.
Among the remaining women, 64 went on to develop anal cancer – with risk climbing sharply 10 to 15 years after treatment.
Nearly 60 per cent of cases in women aged 65 to 74 occurred more than 15 years after their cervical cancer diagnosis.
The threshold currently used to justify screening programmes is 17 cases per 100,000 people. In this age group, the study found rates of 17.6 per 100,000 – high enough to qualify.
Writing in the journal JAMA Network Open, Dr Damgacioglu said: ‘These findings support the need for age-based and duration-based anal cancer screening recommendations for women with a cervical cancer history.’
HPV is thought to be behind at least 90 per cent of anal cancers and 99 per cent of cervical cancers
He added: ‘In summary, this study provides critical data to inform anal cancer screening recommendations among a high-risk population of women with a history of cervical cancer.’
The team is now calling for further research to weigh up the risks and benefits of screening, and to determine the best age to introduce it.
Cervical cancer itself remains a major killer, with around two women dying from it every day in the UK. It is often dubbed a ‘silent killer’ because symptoms can be mistaken for less serious problems such as period pain and fatigue.
If caught early, the chance of surviving at least five years after an anal cancer diagnosis is around 95 per cent.
But this plummets to just 15 per cent if the disease is detected late, once it has spread to other parts of the body.
In the UK, women aged 25 to 49 are invited for cervical screening – more commonly known as a smear test – at their GP surgery every three years.
Yet uptake remains low, with only about 70 per cent of eligible women, or 4.6million, attending their scheduled test.
Around 1,600 people are diagnosed with anal cancer in the UK every year, the majority of them women.
Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross was famously diagnosed with anal cancer in 2017, which she attributes to a strain of HPV that may have also caused her husband’s throat cancer
Among the most high-profile cases in the US was Desperate Housewives actress Marcia Cross, who revealed her diagnosis in 2017.
Common symptoms include bleeding from the anus, pain in or around the area, small lumps felt around the anus, changes in bowel habits, and passing mucus.
These issues can also be caused by more common conditions such as haemorrhoids or anal fissures – but persistent or unusual symptoms should always be checked by a doctor.
Both cervical and anal cancers are linked to infection with high-risk strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted through sexual contact. More than 90 per cent of cases are thought to be caused by HPV.
There are more than 100 types of HPV, and only around 30 can affect the genital area.
Many people never show symptoms, and the majority of cases go away without treatment.
However, in some cases it can cause tissue to grow abnormally, resulting over many years in cancer.
The warning comes as health chiefs are urging under-25s who left school without receiving a life-saving cancer vaccine to come forward for the jab.
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