The rates of anal cancer have risen steadily in the United States, and the biggest increases were in older women — especially white and Hispanic ones, according to a new report.

The research was presented May 3 at the Digestive Disease Week 2025 conference. Findings show that the population targeted for screening may need to shift based on the updated data, the authors wrote.

Women over 65, specifically white and Hispanic women, typically aren’t considered at a high risk for the disease, Ashley Robinson, MD, a second-year internal medicine resident at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, said in a statement.

“While the exact reasons behind this trend remain unclear, most older women were beyond the recommended age for human papillomavirus vaccination when it first became widely available,” Robinson noted.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the virus responsible for 90% of anal cancers.

The team assessed data in the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database between 2017 and 2021. Overall, anal cancer increased by 2.9% for women and 1.6% for men. The disease soared quickest in white women over 65, who saw a 4.3% increase, reaching 11.4 cases per 100,000 by 2021. If the trend continues, the incidence of anal cancer in women over age 65 would double in less than 17 years, the data revealed.

Hispanic women over age 65 had the second-highest rate of anal cancer, with a 1.7% yearly increase and 7.5 cases per 100,000 people in 2021.

Clinicians should start promoting HPV vaccination in the population, Robinson said.  Anal cancer is still pretty rare, and accounts for approximately 1% of all gastrointestinal cancers. More than 90% of cases are linked to chronic HPV infection. Typically, screening for anal HPV, dysplasia and cancer is recommended for high-risk groups — that is, people with HIV, bone marrow transplant recipients and other immunocompromised individuals — but older women, to this point, have not been included in that group.