Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Obstetrics and Gynecology have discovered an increase in cases of stage 4 cervical cancer. They suspect young women aren’t getting routine medical checkups because they looks healthy.
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Suzi Pratt/Getty Images for Hologic
Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Obstetrics and Gynecology have found an increase in cases of stage 4 cervical cancer. They suspect young women aren’t getting routine medical checkups because they have healthy look.
Suzi Pratt/Getty Images for Hologic
A new study shows that cases of end-stage cervical cancer are on the rise in the US, and some researchers theorize that the reduction in screening visits among young women could be the reason why. Why are more women diagnosed with the deadly disease?
While the overall rate of cervical cancer in the US is falling, the number of women with advanced stages of the disease – whose 5-year survival rate is 17% – is increasing.
Researchers at the University of California, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Gynecology began investigating phase 4 cervical cancer trends in the country by analyzing data from 2001 to 2018. In a study published Thursday on International Journal of Gynecological Oncology, they found increase by 1.3% per year in advanced stages of the disease, with the sharpest increases in Southern white women aged 40 to 44 years, where the number of cases increased by 4.5% annually .
The researchers also found that black women had a higher rate of end-stage cervical cancer overall, at 1.55 per 100,000, compared with 0.92 per 100,000 in white women.
Dr. Alex Francoeur, a fourth-year OB-GYN resident at UCLA, said the team’s recent study was generated from a research published last yearthis rate increases by 3.39% annually among women aged 30 to 34 years.
“This is a disease where only 17 percent of patients will live past five years,” says Francoeur. “So if you’re a 30-year-old who doesn’t live past their 35th birthday, that’s a tragic thing.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that women start Pap tests at age 21 and be followed up every three years, depending on their health history. The precancerous screening screens, if detected, can be surgically removed. Cervical cancer detected early can last 5 years survival rate over 90%.
According to the National Cancer Institute, women should also get tested for human papillomavirus (HPV) periodically. guide. The linked virus more than 90% of all anal and cervical cancers, as well as a high percentage of other cancers.
Francoeur said she suspects many women drop out for routine check-ups because they don’t have any obvious health concerns. But HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease, According to CDCIt is so common that most people who have sex will contract the virus at some point in their lives.
Another concern is that the most recent figures are from 2018, Francoeur said, which does not include the COVID-19 pandemic, in which routine health care for many people has been halted.
“I worry that in the past two years people have faced many barriers in accessing health care,” she said. “I think we could see this trend get a little worse before it gets better.”
Francoeur recommends that “even if you’re in your late 20s and early 30s and don’t have any health problems, you still need a primary health practitioner, as routine physicals save lives.” living.”
