Utada M, et al. - Researchers analyzed age, period and birth cohort trends in cervical cancer incidence rates from 1985 to 2012 in Japan, compared with trends among Japanese-Americans in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Registries and among women in South Korea using the Korea Central Registry. In Japan, the estimated age-standardized incidence rates showed decline by 1.7% per year until 1997 and thereafter these rates increased by 2.6% per year. A U-shaped pattern was seen with regard to age-standardized incidence rate ratio by birth cohort, with the lowest rates reported in women born in the late 1930s and 1940s. In Japanese-American or South Korean women, no increasing risk was revealed in recent birth cohorts. Overall, increasing prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among young women was considered responsible for the trends observed in Japan. A highly effective strategy involving screening and vaccination may help reverse these trends.