Interviewed experts: Former Deputy Minister of Health and a famous gynecological oncology expert in my country Cao Zeyi
Global Times Health Client Reporter Shan Qiwen
Cervical cancer is currently the only cancer with a clear cause and the only preventable cancer in humans. But on November 21, the US Medical Express published an article titled "Demologists discover that the incidence of cervical cancer in millennial women is rising rapidly", which quoted a latest research result published by Deshmouk, associate professor of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, in the " Journal of the American Medical Association ". Research points out that the incidence of cervical cancer in the United States is rising sharply.
Dishmuk has been paying attention to the incidence of cervical cancer in the United States for many years. His research based on authoritative data from the United States from 2001 to 2019 found that based on effective screening, the incidence of cervical cancer in the United States has shown a downward trend since 1970, but it has stopped declining since 2012 and has shown a turning point. The incidence of cervical cancer in women in their early 30s has increased by 3% every year. As for the reason for this phenomenon, Deshmuk believes that it may be related to the sharp decline in the screening rate of cervical cancer in young women. Therefore, he called for the urgent need for the United States to improve public health strategies and increase women's acceptance and compliance with cervical cancer screening.
Former Deputy Minister of Health and a famous gynecological oncology expert in my country, Professor Cao Zeyi, said in an interview with the Global Times Health Client Reporter that due to inconvenient statistics, there are currently no very accurate data on the incidence of cervical cancer in women of all ages in my country. But from a clinical point of view, the incidence of cervical cancer in my country is indeed a tendency to become younger. In the 1970s and 1980s, cervical cancer was mainly high in women over 50 years old, and the age group of 30 to 40 can be said to be relatively "safe". However, with the development of society and the changes in people's concepts, the age of onset of many diseases has changed.
Professor Cao Zeyi told reporters that the main cause of cervical cancer is human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. According to the sequence of the virus nucleotide , more than 150 HPV subtypes have been found. The pathogenicity of different types of HPV is also different, and it is divided into high-risk and low-risk. High-risk HPV can cause vaginal and cervical intraepithelial lesions, which are related to the occurrence of malignant tumors such as cervical cancer; low-risk HPV can cause genital warts in the genital acuminatum.
HPV virus is mainly transmitted through sex and is sent from the outside through the vagina to the cervix. If there happens to be a small wound on the cervix at this time, even if it is invisible to the naked eye, the virus will take advantage of the weakness and infect the cervix epithelium. It should be noted that there are tens of millions of women in my country who have artificial abortions every year, and miscarriages are harmful to the cervix, giving HPV virus a chance to invade.
Single sexual partner or married young women have as high as 80% chance of contracting HPV virus. But there is no need to panic too, because young women under 40 years old are generally healthy, have better immune functions, and have strong ability to remove viruses. 90% of people can remove HPV viruses on their own between 1 and 1 and a half years. People who start sex too early and have more sexual partners face higher risks. In Professor Cao Zeyi's view, this is an important reason for the rejuvenation of cervical cancer.
He explained that a healthy woman, especially a woman in her 30s, has good immune function and strong ability to self-clean the virus. She has a strong ability to "purify" the HPV that suddenly appears in the body. If there are many sexual partners, there are more chances of infection with different subtypes of HPV viruses. Multiple HPV viruses will be in battle, and their "self-purification" ability will be overloaded, and the risk of cervical cancer will be significantly increased.
Professor Cao Zeyi said that it is relatively difficult to treat young patients with cervical cancer. Therefore, we should pay more attention to developing hygiene habits and screening for HPV virus infection and cervical lesions. He made five demands for young women.
1. As a primary prevention measure for cervical cancer, vaccination with HPV preventive vaccine can effectively prevent the occurrence of cervical cancer.
2. You must avoid unclean sex life, do not have multiple sexual partners, and establish a sense of protecting yourself.
3. Develop good hygiene habits since childhood, clean the vulva every day, and it is best to have one time in the morning and evening. At the same time, the partner is required to clean the vulva before sexual intercourse. Condoms can also play a role in isolating HPV viruses.
4. Do not smoke, drink, eat a balanced diet, sleep well, and have a happy mood. Use these methods to protect the body's immunity so that it can charge at critical moments.
5. Women should screen for cervical cancer from the age of 21. Aged 21 to 29 only needs to undergo cytology screening every 3 years without HPV testing. Aged 30 to 65, it is recommended to perform cytology and HPV combined screening every 5 years, or cytological screening every 3 years. Women after the age of 65 can stop cervical cancer screening if they have no history of precancerous cervical lesions in the past 25 years and have had sufficient negative screening within the previous 10 years (the last test was within 5 years). The occurrence and development of cervical cancer is a process from quantitative change to qualitative change. Through screening, early detection and early treatment can be detected and treated, and the treatment effect will be better. ▲
