Primary incidence of cervical cancer in the population living in ecologically disadvantaged areas (2000–2020)

Introduction. Thirty six years after the Chernobyl disaster about 5 million people live in the radioactively contaminated territories of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and the density of radioactive contamination, determined mainly by long-lived Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, will remain radiologically significant for several decades.

Purpose of the study. Based on official statistics for 2000–2020, to analyze the trend in the incidence of cervical cancer in females living in conditions of radioactive, chemical, and combined environmental contamination in the Bryansk region.

Materials and methods. Poisson regression, Shapiro–Wilk test, Mann–Whitney U-test, Spearman test. Data sources — Bryansk Regional Oncological Dispensary, Rospotrebnadzor, Rostekhnadzor, Bryanskstat.

Results. There were no statistically significant differences in the incidence of the cervical cancer, regardless of the level of radioactive, chemical, and combined environmental contamination. Also, we have found no significant correlations between the frequency of primary morbidity of the cervical cancer with neither the density of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr contamination, nor air pollution with gaseous pollutants (VOCs, SO₂, CO and NO_x). A statistically significant (p<0.00001) gain in the long-term trend in the incidence of the cervical cancer over 2000–2019 was revealed in all the studied groups, regardless of the environmental conditions of the residence. The forecast for the incidence of the cervical cancer on average in the Bryansk region during 2020 shows a decrease by 20.7% in real values compared to the forecast data.

Limitations. Incidence of the cervical cancer without regard to age groups, distribution at the stage of the disease, histological, and immunohistochemical profile.

Conclusion. The obtained results indicate to the need for further work to understand the trends in the presence/absence of independent and combined effects of pollutants on the growth of oncogynecological pathology from the standpoint of assessing distant and regional metastasis, the histological, and immunohistichemical profile of a specific cervical cancer with levels of radioactive, chemical, and combined environmental contamination.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study does not require the submission of a biomedical ethics committee opinion or other documents.

Contribution: 
Korsakov A.V. — analysis of literature data, the concept and design of the study, writing the manuscript and interpreting the results, approval of the final version of the article;
Kryukova A.E. — collection of information, statistical processing, writing, editing and discussion of the article;
Troshin V.P. — analysis and interpretation of data, writing, editing and discussion of the article;
Milushkina O.Yu. — analysis of literature data, interpretation of data, editing and discussion of the article;
Lagerev D.G. — data analysis, editing and discussion of the article.
All co-authors — responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: September 13, 2022 / Accepted: December 8, 2022 / Published: February 15, 2023