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Cervical cancer screening for women 65 and older

By Michael Roizen, M.D. on 

The long list of screenings we are told to get, from our teeth to our bones and reproductive organs, can seem a bit much, but they're often life-saving. Take screening for cervical cancer.

A lot of women would benefit from being more conscientious about being screened in the decade before they turn 65 -- and by being screened after age 65. That's the message delivered by a study that looked at the ages of over 12,000 women in California who were diagnosed with cervical cancer between 2009 and 2018 and found that 17% of women were 65 or older -- and 71% of them had advanced cancer and many died.

Most cervical cancer is caused by human papillomavirus, and 1 in 16 women age 57 to 85 is infected with high-risk HPV. So, despite the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation that cervical cancer screening is unnecessary after 65 if several tests in a row during the past decade (including at least one in the past five years) didn't find cancer; consider getting a Pap test if you're 65-plus and at any age, if you're going to have new sexual partners, get the HPV vaccine.

Bottom line: If you plan on living younger and your RealAge is younger than your calendar age, please keep getting preventive care and Pap/HPV tests. Then, if you develop cervical cancer, treatment can be started before chemo is needed. I think the USPSTF recommendation is only right if you'll die before 80 -- and with the coming GreatAgeReboot, most of you won't.

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Health pioneer Michael Roizen, M.D., is chief wellness officer emeritus at the Cleveland Clinic and author of four No. 1 New York Times bestsellers. His next book is "The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow." Do you have a topic Dr. Mike should cover in a future column? If so, please email questions@GreatAgeReboot.com.

(c)2023 Michael Roizen, M.D.

Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.


(c) 2023 Michael Roizen, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.