Abstract

Cumulative hysterectomy rates for women in England and Wales have been estimated from data in the Hospital In-Patient Enquiry, and the effect of hysterectomy operations on mortality from cancer of the cervix has been calculated. About six to seven per cent of women born at about the turn of the century have had an hysterectomy by the age of 70, and this proportion could rise to about 19% for women born in the 1940s if present operation rates continue. The time trends in mortality from cancer of the cervix between generations of women are not at present distorted by correction for women without a cervix. Operation rates and their effect on cervical cancer mortality rates are much smaller in England and Wales than in the United States of America.