Obese women are more likely to skip medical screening tests

Women who are severely overweight and obese are more likely than other women to skip cancer screenings. This happens despite the fact that being severely obese increases their risk of developing and dying of cancer.

Scientists from the United States analyzed data from a total of 8,300 women who were aged 40 to 74 who participated in the 2000 National Health Interview survey. The scientists observed that those women who were severely obese were up to 10 percent less likely than normal-weight women to be up-to-date on clinical breast exams, mammograms and Pap smears. The scientists note that this decreased compliance with the medical tests comes in the face of increased health risk linked to this group of women.

The study also indicated that women were severerly obese were 51 percent less likely to adhere to doctors' recommendations for mammography and 83 percent less likely to adhere to Pap recommendations. This one-sided and the study observed that doctors equally likely to recommend mammography and Pap smears to obese and non-obese women.

This study is reported in the latest issue of American Journal of.

Preventive Medicine. It was also presented at a meeting of the American Society of Preventive Oncology in March.

Posted by: Janet