Breast, Colon, and Cervical Cancer Screening Oh my! Time for Pap Smears!

During COVID, so much of our healthcare system was disrupted. As heroes were trying to save as many lives as possible, resources were diverted from nearly every side of medicine to support them. One of the disruptions was cancer screenings, with people afraid to even be around others, it was hard to access medical care, much less preventative medical care.

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Research from the American Cancer Society shows the breast cancer and colon cancer screening have now rebounded and are above pre-pandemic levels, where as cervical cancer screening has not. Not at all rebounded.

The National Health Institute Survey measured breast cancer, colon cancer and cervical cancer screening in eligible individuals at three distinct periods: before 2019, during 2021, and after 2023. They found that breast cancer screening and colon cancer screening were respectively 7% and 12 % higher than pre-pandemic levels. This is great news! People with higher socioeconomic status were more likely to be up to date on their cancer screening.

They also found that cervical cancer screening was down by 14% below pre-pandemic levels. This is very upsetting. Early detection and diagnosis are the keys to making any disease easier and more cost effective to treat. The reasons for this decrease are likely very multifactorial, but I suspect it is in large part due to three things. 1) Cervical cancer screening was reduced from annual testing to once every 3 years (for most women) 2) Gardasil (the HPV vaccine) has dramatically reduced rates of cervical cancer 3) it's uncomfortable to get a pap!

Ladies, now that we know it's time to make some phone calls. It's okay to set boundaries with your obgyn before your pap smear. There are things you can ask for to make your exam more comfortable, like asking for lidocaine, taking ibuprofen ahead of time, requesting to insert your own speculum, or requesting a smaller speculum.

Remember in general, women ages 21-65 need a pap smear about every 3 years.

#cervicalcancer #breastcancer #coloncancer

Source: https://pressroom.cancer.org/PostPandemicScreening#:~:text=Past%2Dyear%20cervical%20cancer%20screening,higher%20levels%20of%20educational%20attainment.