New cervical cancer screening guidelines urge earlier and regular testing for women

When Wheeler told me about the campaign, she lamented that cervical cancer screening "oftentimes get slipped through the cracks with women of color. My mom was a single parent with three kids. It can get put off when you get super busy." Wheeler knows something about being super busy as the first undrafted player in WNBA history to be named the most valuable player of an All-Star Game. "How many times do you put an appointment off because we're having to do certain things," she said. Instead, Wheeler wants to "encourage women to pay attention and have that awareness to protect themselves. Hence the moniker "Ultimate Defense."

Routine Screening Has Helped Decrease Cervical Cancer Mortality By Over 70%

Routine cervical cancer screening has provided many, many women quite a defense against cervical cancer. The introduction of Papanicolaou's test in the 1940s helped drop the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in the United States by over 70% since then, as described in a publication in the Obtertics and Gynecology Clinics of North America. That's because precancerous and cancerous lesions of the cervix are very treatable when caught early, before they've had a chance to spread beyond the cervix. And the Pap test and testing for high-risk strains of human papillomavirus that can cause cervical cancer can catch such situations.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends you start getting screened for cervical cancer at age 21, whereas the American Cancer Society's starting age is a little later-at 25 years. Then, through the rest of your 20s, you should get a Pap test at least every three years. Once you reach age 30, you can do co-testing-a Pap along with testing for the presence of particular high-risk human papillomavirus strains-every five years, all the way until you reach age 65. If you are using the at-home testing option that I have recently described in Forbes, that frequency increases to every three years, based on what the ACS says.

Many Women Are Not Up To Date In Cervical Cancer Screening

All of this may sound straightforward. But screening does require setting aside time and, in most cases, getting to and from the doctor. That means that you do have to have a doctor whom you can trust-especially if you do have an abnormal result on a test and require follow-up, such as a colposcopy and biopsy. As Wheeler emphasized, life can get in the way of all this. As a result, one in four women in the U.S. are not up-to-date in their cervical cancer screening.

An even greater percentage of Black women lag in their screening. For example, a study published in 2023 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that among 188,415 women, only 53.2% of those who were Black had gotten screened for cervical cancer in a three-year period compared to 63.5% who were White.

What's causing such differences? Well, part of it may be differences in access to and trust in healthcare systems. You are less likely to trust a healthcare system if you haven't been treated well by it. You are also more likely to get regular medical care if you have a doctor you regularly see and trust. Part of it may be the presence versus absence of resources to pay for such screening. Part of it may be a time and awareness thing. Naturally, there is great diversity within any sociodemographic group. So, different individuals have different circumstances.

Black Women Have Higher Cervical Cancer Rates And Mortality Than White Women

Nevertheless, studies have shown that the rates of death from cervical cancer among Black women are 75% higher than among White women and that on average Black women tend to get diagnosed at a later stage. Those aren't just itty-bitty statistical differences. They are big ones suggesting that more defense against cervical cancer and more assists to get many more women screened are needed.

And Wheeler knows quite a lot about assists and defense basketball-wise. She has had over 400 assists in her WNBA career. Before taking Seattle by Storm last season, she played for the Indiana Fever, where she still ranks third in franchise history in assists. This past season, she also surpassed the 300-steal mark, a hallmark of her defensive prowess.

All of this has earned her quite a following among basketball fans and thus a platform to reach many girls and women. "As an athlete, that's super busy, I want to be that voice for women," said Wheeler. "If I can get at least one woman to just get screened and talk to her doctor to prevent cervical cancer. I would love, though, to reach thousands of people. I just want to be that voice and advocate." So, if you are behind on your cervical cancer screening, it's best to get on the ball as soon as you can.