Women with mental illness, neuropsychiatric disability, or substance abuse are less likely to undergo gynecologic smear testing for cervical cancer and are more than twice the risk of developing the disease. The findings are presented in The Lancet Public Health by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet, who emphasize the importance of proactively approaching these women as a preventive measure against cervical cancer.
In May 2020, WHO approved a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer as a women’s health problem.Part of the strategy is the requirement that 70 percent of women be screened for the disease at least once before age 35 and twice before age 45.
According to the researchers, inequality in attention is one of the main obstacles to this goal.
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«Our results suggest that women with these diagnoses participate less in screening programs while having a higher incidence of cervical lesions,» says Dr. Hu.»Therefore, we found that they have twice the risk of developing cervical cancer.»
An elevated risk was observed for all diagnoses, but the greatest association was seen for substance abuse. Women with mental illness should be more aware of the need to undergo regular gynecological examinations, according to the researchers: «It would reduce their risk of cancer,» says one of the paper’s authors, Karin Sundström, a senior researcher at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. «Similarly, if healthcare professionals are more aware of the risk of cancer in these patients, they can step up preventive measures and consider how they can be administered to potentially underserved patients.»
Source — https://www.intramed.net/103922