Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5 FM for Medical Matters this morning.
A recent survey found that American women are not getting vital health screenings.
Sommer said, “A study was done and 43% of women in the US have skipped or delayed, recommended health screenings despite widespread recognition. A survey was done with over 4,000 women and 43% of them have either skipped or are behind.”
Regular health screenings do save lives.
Sommer said, “Hologic is a company I think that specializes in women’s studies, and they partnered with Gallup, and they did a survey of 4,000 US women, and it came out that 43% of them had missed or delayed screenings and some of them were for the three top ones that with early detection can have better outcomes. So those three were 41% was for breast cancer. So 41% of women said they skipped or delayed screening for breast cancer, that is your mammogram. 35% of women said they skipped the screening for cervical cancer. So that is a pap smear and as young as I believe is the age of 25 you should start with screening for cervical cancer.”
What were some of the reasons that they said they skipped or delayed the screenings?
Sommer said, “Believe it or not 24% was for anxiety. 20% was lack of time, 20% was fear of pain. We’ve talked about, like the fear of getting the test done or the fear of the outcome, which is the anxiety. So it’s actually delaying women actually doing what they need to do to get screened. Black women were much more likely to say regular health screenings are very important to them. They were also much less likely to say that they have skipped or delayed them, which was very interesting.”
What were some of the factors that contributed to women putting off the screenings?
Sommer said, “This is very interesting. The first one was lack of information. So only four in 10 women said they are very confident in their knowledge of what screenings they need to have based on their age and personal risk factors. Many women say that struggle finding relevant, useful, helpful information, especially true for younger women.”
A lack of communication is also an issue.
Sommer said, “Years ago, I worked in urgent care and there were a lot of young girls and young men and women, I should say, that came in that were concerned about having an STD and they had never had a professional female exam by a gynecologist, and they were well into their 20s. That was concerning to me.”
What about emotional health?
Sommer said, “63% of women, including 70% of women with children in their home, say they struggled to make health a top priority. Having two kids, I can honestly say, I’m behind on some of my screenings, because you get caught up in the rigmarole of the kids and everything you do for them. Women tend to put their health aside.”
72% of the women cited feeling overwhelmed as the top barrier and 60% cited concerns about emotional health as well.
Sommer said, “Early screenings are important. I can relate to this, just from dealing with patients and even what goes on in my own life. It’s kind of like, it’s a snowball effect. When you question somebody and say, why have you had the screening? Well, time is a factor and then it’s anxiety. Well, what if they find something wrong? Then what? Then what do we do?”
Sometimes they’d rather not know and not deal with it.
Sommer said, “I’ve heard that too often. When it’s my time, it’s my time, I don’t want to know. And that doesn’t really take into consideration of everything that snowballs out of control in between the two points mentioned.”
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