What causes cervical cancer?
-Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor.
-Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get cancer; not having risk factors doesn’t mean that you will not get cancer.
Cervical cancer risk factors
- Risk factors for cervical cancer include the following:
.Human papilloma virus infection
.Smoking
.Immunosuppression
.Chlamydia infection
.Diet
.Oral contraceptives
.Multiple full-term pregnancies
.Young age at the first full-term pregnancy
.Family history of cervical cancer
Human papilloma virus infection
-The most important risk factor for cervical cancer is infection by the human papilloma virus (HPV).
-HPV is a group of more than 100 related viruses, some of which cause a type of growth called a papilloma, which are more commonly known as warts.
-HPV can infect cells on the surface of the skin, genitals, anus, mouth and throat, but not the blood or most internal organs such as the heart or lungs.
-Infection with HPV is common, and in most people the body is able to clear the infection on its own.
-Sometimes, however, the infection does not go away and becomes chronic.
-Chronic infection, especially when it is caused by certain high-risk HPV types, can eventually cause certain cancers, such as cervical cancer.
-Although HPV can be spread during sex including vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse and oral sex, sex doesn't have to occur for the infection to spread. All that is needed to pass HPV from one person to another is skin-to-skin contact with an area of the body infected with HPV.
-Women who smoke are about twice as likely as non-smokers to get cervical cancer.
-Smoking exposes the body to many cancer-causing chemicals that affect organs other than the lungs
-These harmful substances are absorbed through the lungs and carried in the bloodstream throughout the body.
-Tobacco by-products have been found in the cervical mucus of women who smoke.
-Researchers believe that these substances damage the DNA of cervix cells and may contribute to the development of cervical cancer. Smoking also makes the immune system less effective in fighting HPV infections.
-Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, damages the body's immune system and places women at higher risk for HPV infections.
-This may explain the increased risk of cervical cancer for women with AIDS.
-Another group of women at risk of cervical cancer are women receiving drugs to suppress their immune response, such as those being treated for an autoimmune disease or those who have had an organ transplant.
-Chlamydia is a relatively common kind of bacteria that can infect the reproductive system.
-It is spread by sexual contact. Chlamydia infection can cause pelvic inflammation, leading to infertility.
-Some studies have seen a higher risk of cervical cancer in women whose blood test results show evidence of past or current chlamydia infection (compared with women who have normal test results).
-Infection with chlamydia often causes no symptoms in women. A woman may not know that she is infected at all unless she is tested for chlamydia when she gets her pelvic exam.
-Women with diets low in fruits and vegetables may be at increased risk for cervical cancer.
-Also overweight women are more likely to develop adenocarcinoma of the cervix.
Oral contraceptives (birth control pills)
-There is evidence that taking oral contraceptives (OCs) for a long time increases the risk of cancer of the cervix.
-Research suggests that the risk of cervical cancer goes up the longer a woman takes OCs, but the risk goes back down again after the OCs are stopped
Multiple full-term pregnancies
-Women who have had 3 or more full-term pregnancies have an increased risk of developing cervical cancer. No one really knows why this is true.
-One theory is that these women had to have had unprotected intercourse to get pregnant, so they may have had more exposure to HPV.
-Also, studies have pointed to hormonal changes during pregnancy as possibly making women more susceptible to HPV infection or cancer growth.
-Another thought is that the immune system of pregnant women might be weaker, allowing for HPV infection and cancer growth.
Young age at the first full-term pregnancy
-Women who were younger than 17 years when they had their first full-term pregnancy are almost 2 times more likely to get cervical cancer later in life than women who waited to get pregnant until they were 25 years or older.
Family history of cervical cancer
-Cervical cancer may run in some families.
-If your mother or sister had cervical cancer, your chances of developing the disease are 2 to 3 times higher than if no one in the family had it.
-Some researchers suspect that some instances of this familial tendency are caused by an inherited condition that makes some women less able to fight off HPV infection than others.
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