Uterine Cancer Is on the Rise in the US

Rates of uterine cancer are climbing steadily, and unlike many other cancers, deaths are rising too. Understanding the risk factors and warning signs could save your life.

Approximately 70,000 new cases are diagnosed in the US each year. The average age at diagnosis is 60, but younger cases are rising fast.

What is uterine cancer?

The uterus, or womb, is the hollow, pear-shaped organ in the pelvis where a baby grows during pregnancy. Uterine cancer is cancer that starts in the uterus, and the most common type, called endometrial cancer, begins in the inner lining of the uterus (the endometrium).

Uterine cancer is already the most common gynecologic cancer in the United States. What makes it especially concerning is that while death rates from most cancers are falling, uterine cancer is one of the rare exceptions. Both new cases and deaths from this disease are going up.

Why are cases rising?

Researchers point to three main forces driving the increase:

Obesity. Fat tissue produces a form of estrogen called estrone. When estrogen levels stay high over a long period, without being balanced by another hormone called progesterone, it can cause the uterine lining to overgrow, which raises the risk of cancer. As obesity rates in the US have increased, so have uterine cancer rates. Using a bio-identical progesterone cream can help top up your body’s level of this protective hormone.

Changing reproductive patterns. Pregnancy temporarily raises progesterone, which acts as a protective counterbalance to estrogen. Women who have fewer children or have children later in life spend more years with their uterine lining exposed to estrogen without that protection.

An aging population. The risk of uterine cancer increases with age. As the large Baby Boomer generation ages, more women are entering the high-risk window.

Hispanic, Black, and Asian/Pacific Islander women are seeing the sharpest increases in new diagnoses, even though White women currently have the highest total case numbers.

Young women are at risk

Cases in women under 40 are rising at up to 3.3% per year. Young Black and Hispanic women (ages 30–39) are experiencing the fastest-growing death rates of any group.

Most cases are still diagnosed around age 60, but that profile is shifting.

What are the warning signs?

One reason uterine cancer has a relatively good survival rate, (about 70% of cases are caught early) is that it often causes an obvious symptom: unusual vaginal bleeding.

Signs to take seriously include:

• Any vaginal bleeding after menopause (even light spotting)
• Bleeding between periods if you haven’t gone through menopause
• Periods that are heavier, longer, or more irregular than usual
• Unusual vaginal discharge (watery, pink, or blood-tinged)
• Pelvic pain or pressure, especially if persistent

Don’t wait and see. Abnormal bleeding after menopause is never normal. It doesn’t always mean cancer (there are benign causes), but it always warrants a prompt visit to your doctor. The earlier uterine cancer is found, the better the outcomes.

Risk factors you should know

You can’t control all of your risk factors, but knowing them helps you stay alert and have informed conversations with your doctor.

Higher-risk factors include: obesity; diabetes; never having been pregnant; starting periods early or reaching menopause late; a personal or family history of uterine cancer; prior use of tamoxifen (a breast cancer drug); and taking estrogen-only hormone therapy after menopause. Being vitamin D deficient raises the risk of uterine caner because vitamin D regulates proper cell division.

Factors that may lower risk: having had children, and maintaining a healthy body weight. Not being insulin resistant. Insulin is a growth promoting hormone. Berberine is the most powerful plant remedy that helps keep your insulin level down.

There is currently no standard recommended screening test for uterine cancer in women with no symptoms, unlike cervical cancer, which is screened with Pap tests. This makes recognizing symptoms and acting on them especially important.

If you have any of the symptoms listed above, call your doctor promptly. Don’t wait for your next routine visit.

For more information about preventing and treating cancer, see the book Cancer Survival Strategies.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.