Cervical Cancer
What Increases Your Risk
The most common cause of cervical cancer is a persistent infection with a high-risk type of human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV infection of the cervix is a sexually transmitted infection (STI). STIs are also called sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). A past HPV infection in you or your partner can cause abnormal cervical cell changes years later since the virus may remain in the body for life. HPV infection usually does not cause symptoms and often goes away without causing any problems, so you or your partner may not be aware of a current or past HPV infection.
Other risk factors that may increase your risk for cervical cancer include:
- Having an impaired immune system. For example, women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seem to:4
- Have higher rates of HPV infection.
- Be more likely to develop cervical cell changes from HPV.
- Be more likely to quickly develop cervical cancer from those cell changes.
- Using birth control pills for more than 5 years. This may be related to infection with HPV.3
- Exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) before birth (prenatal exposure), though this is rare.
- Smoking or a history of smoking, and possibly exposure to second-hand smoke.
Pregnant women have the same risk of developing cervical cancer as non-pregnant women.
 Go to previous section |  Go to top of page |  Go to next section |
| Author: | Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH Carrie Henley | Last Updated: January 9, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Joy Melnikow, MD, MPH - Family Medicine Kevin Holcomb, MD - Gynecologic Oncology Deborah A. Penava, BA, MD, FRCSC, MPH - Obstetrics and Gynecology | |
 | ||
