By Julia Vann
For a number of people living in the United States, they’ve adopted the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach when it comes to cancer. This means that until they or someone they know receive a cancer diagnosis, they don’t do anything about it.
According to Science Daily, eight out of 10 people don’t know they may have a cancer risk. In spite of frequent doctor visits and interaction with the healthcare system, they simply don’t know the risk. And, for many, they don’t want to know.
“As a colleague said, it usually takes a tragedy for people to get tested,” said Michael Murray, professor of genetics at Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the study conducted at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania. “Our reliance on a documented personal or family history as a trigger to offer testing is not working. Hopefully, one day we can change that with effective DNA-based screening for everyone” (Science Daily).
As of right now, there still isn’t effective DNA-based screening for everyone who comes by the doctor. You need to get yourself tested. It may seem tedious or like a waste of time, but knowing the risk increases your chance of staying healthy. Not only that, but knowing the risk helps your doctors identify cancer quicker. Additionally, in the case something happens, they’ll have a much higher chance of helping you.
So go ahead and get tested! Better safe than sorry!
To learn more about recent Healthcare news, visit the American Medical Compliance website.