ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 17 (UPI) -- University of Michigan researchers have suggested doctors use women's Pap smear and mammogram tests as an opportunity to begin colon checks.
The survey asked 52,478 women over the age of 50 what cancer checks they'd had and compared their answers with American Cancer Society guidelines.
In all, women who get the recommended screenings for breast and cervical cancer are still far more likely than other women to have their colons examined through colonoscopy or other methods, the team reported. But a large percentage of even these apparently health-conscious women fail to get screened for colon cancer, the No. 3 cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer and breast cancer.
In all, only 46 percent had been checked for colon cancer as recommended, while nearly 70 percent were up-to-date with cervical cancer screening, and more than 82 percent had been getting their breasts checked like they should.
The researchers suggest doctors use the occasion of one cancer screening to educate and motivate women to have another.
