Study shows Young Women Can be Too Self-Conscious to Seek Medical Help

A recent British study from Ovarian Cancer Action shows that women may be too embarrassed to seek gynecological help. More than half of these women turned to Google for medical answers.

Here’s an excerpt from the article by Ovarian Cancer Action:

The study shows that young British women (aged 18-24) are four times less likely to go to a doctor with a sexual health issue than their 55-64 year old counterparts.

Among the top reasons for young women avoiding going to the doctor were being scared of being intimately examined (48%), being embarrassed to talk about sexual health issues (44%) and not knowing what words to use (26%) – with two thirds (66%) saying they’d be embarrassed to say the word ‘vagina’. The embarrassment factor drops considerably as we get older, with just one in 10 (11%) women aged 65 or over saying they’d be shy saying ‘vagina’ to a healthcare professional.

Other words to cause considerable embarrassment among the young - but not so much among older women – include ‘orgasm’ (64% and 21% respectively), ‘labia’ (60% and 14% respectively),  and ‘discharge’ (56% and 5% respectively).

Instead of seeking medical help, more than half of younger women (57%) say they would turn to google, with an additional one in five (17%) preferring to confide in their mums. Just 17% of the younger age group say they would initially seek medical help if they suspected a gynaecological or sexual health problem, compared with 68% of the older age group, who would turn to a doctor straight away.

One in six have made appointments only to cancel them because they were too embarrassed to discuss gynaecological issues. A further one in five (18%) have completely ignored a sexual health issue.

Katherine Taylor, Acting Chief Executive at Ovarian Cancer Action, said: “The reluctance to see a doctor for gynaecological issues is really worrying and, while many of us have turned to the internet for help, googling symptoms is not a substitute for proper medical attention. Illnesses such as ovarian cancer - which kills a woman every two hours in the UK – is much easier to treat if it’s diagnosed early, so it’s incredibly important that women feel empowered to talk about their health and feel comfortable visiting healthcare professionals.

For the full article from Ovarian Cancer Action, follow this link: http://ovarian.org.uk/news-and-campaigning/article/young-women-too-self-conscious-to-seek-medical-help

Remember: It's Not a Uniformly Fatal Prognosis

Women with ovarian cancer are living longer than expected. A new study from the University of California helps upend the notion that women with ovarian cancer always face a poor chance of survival.

The following article excerpt comes from Futurity:

LONG-TERM SURVIVORS

For the study, researchers used the California Cancer Registry to analyze data reported on all California residents diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer between 1994 and 2001. Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common type of ovarian cancer, occurring in nine out of 10 cases.

Of the 11,541 patients in the registry database, 3,582 (31 percent) survived more than 10 years. This was the first time that research has looked at 10-year trajectories for patients; most survival studies have looked only at 5-year survival or less.

As expected, the study shows that the majority of the long-term survivors were younger, had early-stage disease when they were diagnosed, and their tumors were of a lower-risk tissue type.

But what struck the researchers was that of the 3,582 long-term survivors, 954 of them had been considered to be at high risk of dying from their disease, either because of their tumor stage, grade, or older age at diagnosis.

For the entire article which includes a woman’s personal story and why many women are beating the odds please visit the link: http://www.futurity.org/women-ovarian-cancer-978612/

UPMC Cancer Center Receives 'Outstanding' Rating

Living in the Pittsburgh area undoubtedly has many benefits, one of them being the numerous numbers of great hospitals in the area. You can’t throw a rock in Pittsburgh without hitting a nationally ranked  hospital (disclaimer: please don’t throw rocks!).

Every year the National Cancer Institute ranks cancer centers and hospitals in their designated network, and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) has been ranked among the highest.

Here’s an excerpt from the article posted by the 90.5 WESA:

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) has been rated “outstanding” by the National Cancer Institute and has been designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“Each five years we have to go through a process of self-assessment and an evaluation by outside colleagues and we’re really please this year we were labeled as ‘outstanding’ among the most elite, and of course we’re extremely excited about the funding that this brings to help to support our important research and care missions,” said Dr. Nancy E. Davidson, director of UPCI and UPMC Cancer Center.

That designation also comes with a grant.

“The funding is about $25 million over five years, and it helps to fund the infrastructure to support our research and clinical trials at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute,” said Davidson.

That research includes studies such as DNA repair and its role in developing cancer or the ties between the immune system and a predisposition to cancer. In addition, Davidson said clinical trials looking at different types of cancers are critical along with community health education.

Congratulations to UPCI! For the full article from the 90.5 WESA follow the link: http://wesa.fm/post/upmc-cancer-center-rated-outstanding-national-cancer-institute