Doctors collect statistical information about the different types of cancer and prognosis. Prognosis is the likely outcome of your disease and treatment. In other words, your chances of getting better and how long you are likely to live.
About the information on this page
This page contains quite detailed information about the survival rates of different stages of cervical cancer. We have included it because many people have asked us for this. But not everyone who is diagnosed with a cancer wishes to read this type of information. If you are not sure whether you want to know at the moment or not, then perhaps you might like to
skip this page for now. You can always come back to it.
Please note: There are no national statistics available for different stages of cancer or treatments that people may have received. The statistics we present here are pulled together from a variety of different sources, including the opinions and experience of the experts that check each section of CancerHelp UK. We provide statistics because people ask us for them. But they are only intended as a general guide and cannot be regarded as any more than that.
You can scroll down the page to read all the information here. Or you can use these links to go straight down to sections on
Cancer statistics in general
There is a section explaining more about the different
types of cancer statistics in CancerHelp UK. There is a section explaining more about the different types of cancer statistics in the CancerHelp UK section About Cancer: Cancer Statistics:
incidence, mortality and survival. Unless you are very familiar with medical statistics, it might help to read this before you read the statistics below.
Remember – statistics are averages based on large numbers of patients. They cannot predict exactly what will happen to you. Everyone is different and response to treatment also varies from one person to another.
You should feel free to ask your doctor about your prognosis, but not even your doctor can tell you for sure what will happen. You may hear your doctor use the term ‘5 year survival’. This doesn't mean you will only live 5 years. It relates to the proportion of people in research studies who were still alive 5 years after diagnosis. Doctors follow what happens to people for 5 years after treatment in any research study. This is because there is only a small chance that cervical cancer will come back more than 5 years after treatment. They do not like to say these people are cured because there is that small chance. So the term ‘5 year survival’ is used instead.
Prognosis by stage
As with many other types of cancer, the outcome depends on how advanced your cancer is when it is diagnosed. In other words, the
stage of your cancer. Since the 1970s, the number of deaths from cervical cancer in the UK has been falling. The main reason for this is the introduction of the
national screening programme in the 1960s. Regular screening has meant that pre cancerous changes and early stage cervical cancers have been picked up and treated early. Figures suggest that cervical screening is saving 5,000 lives each year in the UK by preventing cervical cancer.
Of all those women diagnosed with cancer of the cervix, about 7 out of 10 women on average (70%) will be alive 5 years after diagnosis. Younger women have a better survival rate than older women. This is at least partly because the disease in younger women tends to be diagnosed at an earlier stage.
Stage 0
This is the earliest stage of cervical cancer before it has become invasive. Some doctors call this a pre-cancerous stage. Because the cells are confined to the outer tissues of the cervix, the cancer cannot spread. Just about every woman diagnosed at this stage will be cured.
Stage 1
Stage 1 cervical cancer is often divided into two
stages - 1A and 1B. Of all those women diagnosed with stage 1A cervical cancer, 95 out of 100 on average (95%) will be alive 5 years later. For stage 1B cervical cancer between 8 and 9 out of 10 women on average (80 to 90%) will be alive 5 years later. This doesn’t include women with cancer in their lymph nodes.
Stage 2
Stage 2 is divided into 2 groups -
stage 2A and 2B. For all those women diagnosed with stage 2A cervical cancer, between 7 and 9 out of 10 women on average (70 to 90%) will be alive 5 years later.
For stage 2B the figures are slightly lower. Between 6 and 7 out of every 10 women on average (60 to 70%) will be alive 5 years after diagnosis.
Stage 3
As you might expect, the survival statistics fall with the more advanced stages of cervical cancer. Between 3 and 5 out of 10 women on average (30 to 50%) live at least five years after a diagnosis of
stage 3 cervical cancer.
Stage 4
As it is the most advanced stage, and the cancer will have already spread, the survival statistics are lowest for stage 4 cervical cancers. Between 15 and 30 out of 100 women on average (15 to 30%) will live 5 years or longer with
stage 4 cervical cancer. These are figures for all stage 4 cervical cancers. The figures will be higher for those with stage 4a cancers and lower for those with stage 4b cancers.
Other factors affecting the prognosis of cervical cancer
There are other factors that can affect your prognosis, apart from the stage of your cancer. For example, how well you are overall. Doctors have a way of grading how well you are. They call this your ‘performance status’. A score of 0 means you are completely able to look after yourself. A score of 1 means you can do most things for yourself, but need some help. The scores continue to go up, depending on how much help you need.
If you are weak from losing weight, or being in pain and feel very tired, you will need more day to day help, so your performance score will be at least 1. You may see performance status written ‘PS’.
How reliable are cancer statistics?
No statistics can tell you what will happen to you. Your cancer is unique. The same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people. The statistics are not detailed enough to tell you about the different treatments people may have had. And how that treatment may have affected their prognosis. Chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy may help people to live longer, as well as relieving their symptoms. There are many individual factors that will determine your treatment and prognosis. If you are fit enough to have treatment, you are likely to do better than average, particular if your cancer is more advanced.
Clinical trials
People treated at centres where clinical trials are taking place tend to do better. This is almost certainly because that is where the most expertise is concentrated - research is more likely to take place in specialist centres. For those in the trials, it may be partly to do with having a closer eye kept on them by their doctors than they might if not in a trial - more scans and blood tests for example. But it might also be something to do with morale. You may feel more positive if you are taking part in a trial because it is more obvious to you that something is being done to help you.
There is more about
understanding clinical trials in CancerHelp UK. To search our
clinical trials database for trials that are recruiting for cancer of the cervix, click on the blue 'clinical trials button' to the left of your screen and pick 'cervical' from the drop down menu of cancer types.
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