Rising incidence of vulval cancer in North East Scotland 1974–94: a population based study

Incidence trends for vulval cancer between 1974 and 1994 within a geographically static population are reported. The age standardized incidence rate for combined vulval tumor types is increasing ( P = 0.014). A similar trend for squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva was observed which may be important, but this did not reach statistical significance. A subgroup analysis of age at diagnosis, tumor stage, smoking history and parity for the two time periods 1974–83 and 1984–94 failed to identify changes which might identify an underlying cause for this rise. Careful scrutiny of pathology records detected significant cancer registry underascertainment. Further population based studies in other geographic areas would be useful to confirm this rise and to examine further trends in squamous cell carcinoma incidence.