Paste your text eight Million girls area unit Missing Out On This MAJOR Health take a look at Are you one in all them?

Paste your text eight Million girls area unit Missing Out On This MAJOR Health take a look at
Are you one in all them?

You probably suppose you’ve been screened for cervical cancer. After all, that’s what a Papanicolaou smear is for, right? however the authority simply free a surprising new report: ten % of yankee girls (aged 21-65) say they haven’t been screened for cervical cancer within the last 5 years.

And the numbers simply get scarier. Of the yankee girls World Health Organization area unit diagnosed with cervical cancer once a year, quite 0.5 haven't been screened, or haven’t been screened within the last 5 years.

MORE: is that this the tip of Pap Smears?

Your initial inclination may be to raise yourself: Wait, have I had a cervical cancer screening? affirmative, indeed, the Papanicolaou smear you get from your ob-gyn is your cervical cancer screening. It gets further confusing, as a result of as you will keep in mind, pointers for pap smears recently modified. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and therefore the yankee Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists currently advocate that ladies between the ages of 21-29 receive a Papanicolaou test each 3 years, rather than annually. girls ages 30-65 ought to be screened each 5 years if they mix the take a look at with a HPV take a look at. (These pointers could vary supported health and manner factors, or if you've got associate degree abnormal take a look at result.)

So area unit these new pointers resulting in lack of cervical cancer screenings? that is not going, clarifies Vanessa Cullins, M.D., vp of external medical affairs for Planned adulthood Federation of America. the rules truly modified to cut back the quantity of ladies World Health Organization were obtaining false positives, resulting in invasive and supernumerary follow-up procedures like colposcopies and cryotherapy. Plus, this authority knowledge was collected in 2012, and therefore the screening pointers had simply modified in March 2012, therefore the probabilities of that poignant the speed of being screened within the past 5 years is slim.

MORE: you've got to look at This Rap regarding Pap Smears

The real reason such a big amount of girls area unit missing out on cervical cancer screenings would possibly truly be cash. “Access to care is that the perpetrator," says Cullins. "People that area unit uninsured  or under-insured, or don’t have enough medical aid physicians, aren’t essentially receiving the care that's suggested." She conjointly notes that the prevalence of cervical cancer tends to be the best in areas wherever access to worry is a difficulty.

The good news is that the cheap Care Act implies that preventive care measures, just like the Papanicolaou smear, area unit coated with no co-pay. cash mustn't stop you from obtaining the care and tests that you just would like.

MORE: eleven Things each girl ought to Tell Her Gyno

If you’re still confused (or freaked out) regarding not obtaining a Papanicolaou smear once a year such as you wont to, the answer is to speak to your doctor. along you'll be able to verify whether or not the various circumstances—your age, your sexual behavior, your HPV risk, your history of screenings, then on—might amendment however ofttimes you are tested.

The bottom line is: Cervical cancer is one in all the foremost preventable cancers. once caught early, the five-year survival rate is almost 100%, and up to ninety three % of cervical cancers are often prevented by screenings and HPV vaccination, in step with Planned adulthood. thus confer with your woman's doctor, and make certain you are obtaining screened on a daily basis.here and click on "Next" to look at this text editor in chief do it's factor.

 don't have any text to check? don't have any text to check? Click "Select Samples".