IUDs May Lower Cervical Cancer But Researchers Still Don’t Know Why
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IUDs May Lower Cervical Cancer But Researchers Still Don’t Know Why
By Martha Kempner - Rewire News Group
November 13, 2017
“IUDs May Lower Cervical Cancer But Researchers Still Don’t Know Why
For a new study published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 16 studies that included more than 12,000 women around the world and concluded that the rates of cervical cancer were one-third lower in women who had intrauterine devices.
The study didn’t include any clinical research, however, so it can’t explain why IUDs might reduce the chances of cervical cancer. One theory is that the IUD, by virtue of being a foreign object in the body, causes an immune system reaction that can fight HPV, the virus that causes 99 percent of all cervical cancer.
In the United States, about 12,000 women a year are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4,000 women die from it, but it is very preventable. HPV also causes cancers of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus, head, neck, and throat, but there are now vaccines that can prevent the types of HPV infections most likely to cause these cancers. Moreover, routine Pap tests can catch changes in cervical cells, which can be treated before they become cancerous.
Nonetheless, more research about why IUDs might prevent cervical cancer would be helpful to women, especially those in parts of the world where there is less access to prevention methods.”
