Excerpt from: Sun News (click for full article)
Canadian women with developmental disabilities are much less likely to get routine screening for breast and cervical cancer, even though their risk is just as high, a new study has found.
Women with disabilities such as Down syndrome or autism are half as likely to get a Pap test every three years, and 1/3 as likely to get a mammogram every two years, according to the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES).
"The findings of our study suggest that women with intellectual and developmental disabilities face important health inequities in missed opportunities for the prevention and early detection of cervical and breast cancer," researcher Yona Lunsky said.
The researchers say there is a widespread, but unfounded, belief that women with developmental disabilities don't need to be tested.
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