One of the longest-lasting female contraceptive methods and one of the best methods may provide unexpected health benefits for women using this method.
A new analysis of intrauterine devices (IUDs) found that women who used the contraceptive method were significantly less likely to develop cervical cancer, and the IUD reduced the incidence of cancer by about a third. Victoria Cortessis, an expert in preventive medicine at the University of Southern California, said: “The patterns we found are amazing, not at all so subtle. While making contraception decisions, the possibility that women may experience some cancer control help may be very influential.
Cortessis and researchers reviewed the data of 16 observational studies, these studies monitored more than 12,000 women to determine the participants to use the incidence of IUD and cervical cancer, cervical cancer is the fourth most common women’s cancer in the world. They found that 36% of women who participated in the study used IUDs than women who did not use it. Of course, such meta-analysis is essentially observational-neither new studies nor studies show any kind of causal effect.
However, the researchers say that this is an amazing and unexpected result that definitely needs further investigation. Cortez told “Real-Time Science”: “It looks real.””To truly believe, we need to go back to do research and find a mechanism.”
No one is sure what the mechanism is, but the research team speculates that the placement of the IUD may stimulate the immune response of the cervix, causing the body to protect itself from any existing human papillomavirus (HPV) infections- Causes more than 70% of all cervical cancer cases.
“The data shows that the presence of the IUD in the uterus stimulates the immune response, which severely damages the sperm and prevents the sperm from reaching the egg.” Cortessis explained to HealthDay.”IUD may affect other immune phenomena.”Another hypothesis is that when the IUD is removed from the body, the scraping effect can simultaneously remove the infected cells, which may help reduce the risk of cancer tissue development.
No matter what happens to reduce the risk of cancer, the huge size of the gap shown in the data means that this is what health researchers want to study.”If this is not a real phenomenon, I would be shocked,” Cortsis told Time Weekly.”We need to figure out what happened and make some fine-tuning to see what uses can prevent cervical cancer and combine it with contraception counseling.”
The researchers are keen to emphasize that their findings should not be regarded as a recommendation that women should use an IUD to reduce the chance of cervical cancer.The best way is to regularly screen for cervical cancer and get HPV vaccine.”Screening is everything,” Corteses told Newsweek.
“If a woman has a lifetime screening interview, her risk is much lower.”
