Each year, about 12,200 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in the United States, and about 4,210 women will die of it, according to the American Cancer Society. But, luckily, there are steps women can take to help keep themselves healthy.
And if women should develop the disease in spite of precautions, there are steps they can take to help them detect it early and make a full recovery, says Julie Sich, the health promotions coordinator for SummaCare, Inc. Screening and early intervention can save your company and your employees a lot of health care costs.
“Cervical cancer was once the most common cause of cancer deaths among women in this country,” says Sich. “But screenings have led to earlier treatment. And with more effective treatment methods, the death rate from cervical cancer decreased about 74 percent between 1955 and 1992, and continues to decline by nearly 4 percent a year.”
Smart Business spoke with Sich about the importance of regular screenings and the steps that women can take to help them reduce their risk of cervical cancer.
What steps can women take to reduce their risk of cervical cancer?
Cervical cancer tends to occur in midlife, and while the majority of cases are diagnosed in women under the age of 50, it can occur at older ages, especially in those who have not had regular screenings over their lifetime. To reduce the risk, women should practice monogamy — it’s the No. 1 prevention.
Also, women should eat a variety of healthy foods, with an emphasis on those that come from plant sources. Living a physically active lifestyle that includes daily exercise also helps. It’s a good idea for women to work to reach a healthy weight and then maintain it, limit the amount of alcohol they consume, and, if they are smokers, take steps to quit.
In addition, women should have yearly pap screenings after age 20, or three years after the beginning of sexual activity. Previously it was recommended that testing be done annually. However, the most recent guidelines suggest that after age 30, if all screenings have been normal, screening can be cut back to every three years. After age 65, women with a history of normal Pap tests can safely stop being screened.
What are the risk factors for cervical cancer?
The biggest risk factor is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted through sexual activity. While the majority of both men and women will contract the virus in their lifetime, the majority will clear it from their systems on their own. For those women who do not, however, the result can be dysplasia — early cell changes in the cervix — and, eventually, cervical cancer.
By limiting the number of partners over a lifetime and practicing safe sex, women can greatly reduce their risk of contracting this virus. In addition, those younger than age 26 can further protect themselves by getting vaccinated, which protects against two types of HPV that cause an estimated 75 percent of cervical cancer cases.