More than 8 million women skip cervical cancer screening in US in 5 years

A recent federal report released on Wednesday revealed that during the past five years, more than 8 million American women between the age of 21 and 65 have not been screened for cervical cancer.

Federal health officials said that women who skip their screening are actually missing an opportunity to treat the disease before it could take away their life.

The report also stated that more than half of the cervical cancer cases are found in women who have previously never been screened or rarely screened for the disease.

From 2007 to 2011, the cervical cancer rate throughout the nation decreased by 1.9% a year and the death rate was also stable. But it was found that the southern United States had the highest number of cervical cancer cases, which were 8.5 cases per 100,000 women. The region also has the highest death rate i. e. 2.7 deaths per 100,000 women.

CDC Principal Deputy Director Ileana Arias said, "We must increase our efforts to make sure that all women understand the importance of getting screened for cervical cancer. No woman should die from cervical cancer".

CDC, in a statement, said that wider use of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine can help to lessen the cervical cancer cases and will also prevent deaths caused due to this disease.

In addition, CDC stated that a recent study conducted by them revealed that the vaccine is underused. Only one out of three girls and one in seven boys received the three-dose vaccination series in 2013.

Experts have recommended the HPV vaccine for children between the age of 11 and 12. The study showed that HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening together can help to fight against this disease. This will also help almost 93% of cervical cancer cases, said CDC.

CDC experts reported that in 2012, nearly 11.4% of women reported they had not been screened for cervical cancer in the past five years.