Fact sheet: Epidemiology of vulvar and vaginal cancer in Germany

Abstract

Between 2017 and 2020, an average of 3650 women were diagnosed with vulvar or vaginal cancer each year. In the 3 years from 2020–2022 another 5400 women were diagnosed with an in situ tumour of the vulva or vagina. The continuously rising numbers of incident invasive tumours in the years prior to 2010 have stabilised since then. In 2020, the incidence of invasive carcinomas of the vulva and vagina fell below 3500 cases per year (age-standardised incidence rate 4.5 per 100,000 women). Young women (< 50 years) only rarely develop a vulvar or vaginal tumour. Their share of new cases is less than 10% of all cases. The disease rates continuously increase with increasing age. Women affected by an invasive tumour are 72 years old at diagnosis (median age). In situ tumours of the vulva are diagnosed at a median age of 57 and in situ tumours of the vagina at a median age of 58. Eight to nine out of ten of the tumours diagnosed affect the vulva, both invasive (88%) and in situ tumours (81%). In 2022, 1030 women died from cancer of the vulva, another 195 women died from cancer of the vagina. One in 3 patients with vulvar cancer will have died from their disease 5 years after diagnosis (relative survival 70%). For women with vaginal cancer, the prognosis is worse; the relative 5‑year survival is 47%.