Mammograms and breast screening is required in women at least once in three years from the age of 20 in order to examine any abnormalities or lumps on breasts. Most experts recommend that mammograms; the screening test for breast cancer should be done every year for women above 40 years (Fernandez et al., 2005) Secondly, another screening which is significant in women is Pap smears and pelvic exams that should be carried out for at least every two years. The purpose of these checkups is to detect early abnormal changes in the cells covering the cervix that might develop into cancer if it is left undetected. These changes are commonly referred to as cervical intra-epithelial neoplasm.CIN does not generally progress to cancer, but since it is potential to do so, it is always necessary to evaluate and treat these changes. A speculum is used in taking the pap smear where it is inserted into the vagina in order to expand the vaginal canal, for the doctor to look for any changes that may cause cervical cancer the doctor uses a small tool to take the cell from the cervix (Moore & Costa,2005). Women should also attend Blood pressure screening that should be checked at least every two years beginning at the age of 18 for women with the blood pressure of less than 120/80mm Hg. It has been proved that older women tend to have higher triglyceride level that can cause high blood pressure as compared to men and it is essential to be controlled if earlier detected. Furthermore, Anemia screening women should be screened in order to improve maternally and the health of the unborn baby. Prenatal care is essential for women it can help in having healthier babies. Lack of irony is associated with cognitive abnormalities in children, increased risk for low birth weight among women and hence it is significant (Schuiling & Likis, 2013).
Screening for younger and older women differs since some diseases are more experienced in younger women and vice versa. For instance, women aged 20-45 years have a lower risk of breast cancer as compared to older women and this means that more screening should be done at older age approximately every year and at least twice every two years at the younger age. Furthermore, young women's who get mammograms are more likely as compared to older women. It is essential for young women to go for this screening as compared to older women. The two examples show that that the nature and the occurrence of disease at different stages of women's life plays an essential role in determining the number of times both older and younger women should be screened (Castanon et al., 2013)
A number of implications may arise as a result of differences in screening amongst young and old women. When young women realize of lower perceived risk to diseases at their young age, thus the screen attendance becomes very low, this applies to older women too. Due to differences in lifestyle and genetic nature of individuals, it is not guaranteed that all women for example 20-45 years have the lower risk of breast cancer as compared to older women; some of them aged 20-45 may be at risk of breast cancer. But due to the notion that they cannot contract breast cancer, they become more reluctant to go for screening and this exposes them to higher (Sasieni et al., 2009)
References
Antony, F.; Antony, F. F. & Ghosh, S. (2004). Evaluating service quality in a UK hotel
chain: a case study. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol.16, No. 6, p. 380-384.
Castanon, A., Leung, V. M. W., Landy, R., Lim, A. W. W., & Sasieni, P. (2013). Characteristics
and screening history of women
diagnosed with cervical cancer aged 20-29 years. British journal of cancer, 109(1), 35-41.
Frese, E. M., Fick, A., & Sadowsky, S. H. (2011). Blood pressure measurement guidelines for physical therapists. Cardiopulmonary
physical therapy journal, 22(2), 5-12.
Fernandez, M. E., Palmer, R. C., & Leong-Wu, C. A. (2005). Repeat mammography screening
among low-income and minority women: a qualitative study. Cancer Control, 12(Suppl
2), 77-83.
Moore, M., & Costa, C. D. (2005). A Woman's Concise Guide to Common Medical Tests.
Rutgers University Press. Sasieni, P., Castanon, A., & Cuzick, J. (2009). Effectiveness of cervical screening with age:
population based case-control study of
prospectively recorded data. Bmj, 339, b2968. Schuiling, K. D., & Likis, F. E. (2013). Women's gynecologic health (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA:
Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Chapter 8, "Periodic Screening and Health Maintenance" (pp. 157-173
If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the SuperbGrade website, please click below to request its removal: