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When Stephanie Fajuri, 36, had an abnormal Pap smear a decade ago, her doctor advised her to come in for annual screenings to keep an eye on her health. She was diligent about doing so regularly until she was confronted by a pandemic.
An appointment scheduled last summer was pushed to December, Fajuri said. By the time she finally saw a doctor, she had developed more abnormal cells and had to undergo a procedure to remove them from her cervix.
“Thankfully, I am vigilant about my health,” she said, “but this is how women develop cervical cancer.”
Like Fajuri, women across Southern California are reporting appointments delayed, exams canceled and screenings postponed because of the pandemic. Some are voluntarily opting out for fear of encountering the virus, while others have had their appointments canceled by healthcare providers rerouting resources to COVID-19 patients.
Another casualty of the pandemic? Women s health
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Just living with pain Women s healthcare suffers as pandemic interferes with access
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CT scan showing osteonecrosis of the lower jaw with an arrow pointing to a fracture.
Credit: West J Emerg Med. Jan 2015. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2014.10.23837. CC BY 4.0
When cancer spreads to the bone, it can cause pain, fractures, and other problems. Clinical guidelines recommend that patients whose cancer has spread to their bones receive regular infusions of a bone-modifying drug, such as zoledronic acid (Zometa), to help manage these complications.
But such drugs can have harmful side effects, including osteonecrosis of the jaw, a rare but potentially debilitating condition in which bone tissue in the jaw is no longer covered by the gums and starts to die.
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Advances in early detection and treatment mean cancer survivors are living longer, but with that longevity comes a whole host of other health problems, including an increased risk of heart disease. Cancer and cardiovascular disease share many risk factors, such as obesity and tobacco use, and on top of that, many cancer treatments can cause damage to the heart, with certain types of cancer leading to a greater risk of heart disease.
A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looked at how cancer may age the heart. Researchers found that adult male cancer survivors’ hearts appeared to be 8.5 years older than their actual age. The hearts of female cancer survivors appeared to be 6.5 years older.