Health Update: Cancer concerns

WOMEN with cervical cancer often stop enjoying sex, says a survey in the British Journal of Cancer by doctors in Edinburgh.

The report showed almost all the 83 sufferers surveyed had deep-seated anxieties, more than 90 per cent feared recurrence of the tumour and a third blamed themselves for the disease. The three-quarters of women who were still sexually active suffered pain on intercourse and loss of enjoyment, and nearly half were unable to talk to their partners about their experience.

Women with cervical cancer need more attention paid to their psychological and sexual concerns, the report concluded.