Causes of Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancer is another one of the world’s health culprits. Millions of women suffer from it because of so many factors that are either known or unknown. The causes of cervical cancer vary according to a woman’s overall health. Apart from the fact that women can get cervical cancer from a metastatic tumor, there are numerous risk factors that contribute to cancer of the cervix including those that women do not expect to be a causative factor for such deadly disease.
Believe it or not poverty can be one of the many causes of cervical cancer. Women who are below poverty line have no adequate access with good medical services that can diagnose and treat cervical cancer. The disease is commonly undiagnosed and untreated among poor women and everything can be too late once it has spread to the other body organs. Poor women are undernourished thereby poor nutrition level can increase the risk for cervical cancer.
Another of the many causes of cervical cancer is not having pap tests in a regular basis. Failure to do so increases the chances of unrecognized or undiagnosed cervical cancer. Despite this, tobacco use among women can be a contributing factor towards such cancer. Women who enjoy smoking are twice more likely to develop the disease than those who do not smoke.
Hormonal medications are one of the common causes of cervical cancer. Experts agree that oral contraceptive hormones or birth control pills make women more prone to HPV or Human Papillomavirus. Research suggests that women (especially those who took pills before 25 years old) taking oral contraceptives for 5 years and longer have elevated risks of developing cancer of the cervix.
Women with existing HIV are more at risk with cervical cancer. Usually, cervical cancer is diagnosed with AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
