Risk Factors

Age - Cancer of the vagina mainly affects women over the age of 60. It is an extremely rare type of cancer in women less than 40, except for a particular type of vaginal cancer called clear cell carcinoma which occurs in the daughters of women who took a drug called diethylstilboestrol during pregnancy. As it is now more than 35 years since DES was used in pregnancy, these cancers are becoming even rarer.

VAIN - Changes to the cells in the lining of the vagina called Vaginal Intraepithelial Neoplasia (VAIN) can mean you are more at risk of getting vaginal cancer. These changes are not enough to make the cells cancerous, but they could become cancerous if not treated.

Human papilloma virus infection - HPV is a common infection and is passed by sexual contact. Around 80 per cent of people in the UK will be infected with the HPV virus at some time during their life but it usually clears up of its own accord. Very few women infected with HPV go on to develop vaginal�cancer.

Although not designed to do so, having regular smear tests will help pick up VAIN or vaginal cancer in its very early stages, but smears are not guarranteed to pick up these conditions, because they mainly take cells from the cervix, rather than the vagina.

HIV infection - Women with HIV or AIDS have an increased risk of vaginal cancers, as well as other cancers in the genital or anal area.

CIN and cancer of the cervix - Cervical cancer and pre-cancerous changes in your cervical cells (CIN) increases the risk of the most common type of squamous cell cancer. (CIN stands for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia).

Smoking - There may be a link between cancer of the vagina and smoking . But there have only been a small number of studies looking into this and most studies show no increase in risk amongst smokers.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) - DES is a drug that doctors used to give to pregnant women to prevent a miscarriage. The daughters of women who took DES during pregnancy are more at risk of getting a very rare type of vaginal cancer called clear cell adenocarcinoma. DES hasn't been used for over 35 years so it is becoming less important as a risk factor.

Family history - One study has shown an increased risk of vaginal cancer in�women who have a sister diagnosed with cervical cancer, however, vaginal cancer is rare even in women whose relatives have had cervical cancer.