Objectives Cervical conization is a commonly performed surgical procedure in women for treatment
of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The objective of this study
was to estimate annual proportion of women 18-45 years-old undergoing cervical conization
in Germany 2013-2018.
Methods We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional claims data analysis using the Institute
for Applied Health Research Berlin (InGef) Database, which is representative of the
German population regarding age and gender. The annual proportion (2013-2018) of women
18-45 years-old undergoing cervical conization was calculated as number of women with
at least one respective operations and procedures (OPS) code, divided by the total
number of women in that year in the database.
Results The proportion of women undergoing cervical conization was 2.4/1,000 in 2013 and
2.1/1,000 in 2018 (Figure 1). Women 20-26 years-old accounted for 16.1 % and 8.3 %
in 2013 and 2018, respectively, of those conized. 31-35 year-old women accounted for
27.0 % and 32.2 % in 2013 and 2018, respectively, of those conized.
Conclusions The burden of conization in women over 30 years remains substantial. Changes in conization
could be due to reductions in diagnosis of CIN2+, which may be driven by changes in
HPV vaccination, behavior, and screening patterns.
Abb.1 Annual proportion of women undergoing conization by age groups in Germany from 2013-2018.
