Researchers from Ohio State University, on board for a new $7.5 million, five-year project to study cervical cancer rates of women in the Appalachian region, will meet today with grant recipients from across the country.
The recipients have received funding from the National Cancer Institute for the generation of eight Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities, which will be run by researchers from universities nationwide. The centers have teamed up for specialized research studies on health problems including obesity, cardiovascular disease, mental health and several forms of cancer.
The center at OSU, in association with researchers at the University of Michigan, will focus on cervical cancer rates in the Appalachian region.
With new funding for extensive studies, researchers hope to coordinate three major projects in 16 clinics throughout southeastern Ohio. Researchers hope to recruit 16,000 women from the area to identify social, environmental, behavioral and biological trends that may help them understand how to increase the use of Pap smears, said Electra Paskett, who is in charge of the research grant team at OSU and the University of Michigan.
The three projects will focus on cervical cancer screening among Appalachian populations, tobacco use among Appalachian women and the occurrence of abnormal pap smears in Appalachia.
To receive grant money, grant recipients had to go through a rigorous application process, which began in 2002, said Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts, National Cancer Institute program director.
The grants total $60.5 million, and four institutes within the National Institutes of Health will support the research to determine factors that interact with health and disease in various populations, Heurtin-Roberts said.
The universities we have selected for research funding are really the cream of the crop
Heurtin-Roberts said.
She said the research is needed to understand factors such as social, cultural and biological norms in various populations.
We're funding the research for five years and at the end of that period we will assess the effectiveness of the projects Heurtin-Roberts said.
Paskett said statistics suggest fewer women in Appalachia get regular Pap tests, a medical procedure where cells from a women's cervix are examined for abnormalities.
Women in Dr. Paskett's area are dying at exceedingly high rates but cervical cancer can be treated when caught at an appropriate time
Heurtin-Roberts said. These are deaths that shouldn't be happening and we're trying to change that.
She said the high death rate has to do with rural life in the Appalachian area, a barrier to resources, lack of medical centers nearby and poor educational status.
In 2003
women should not be dying of cervical cancer at such severe rates
Paskett said. (The Appalachian region) is an area with significant health disparities and our overall goal is to improve the health.
Joy Padgett, director of the governor's office of Appalachia, said the office sent a letter to the National Cancer Institute during the grant application process supporting the study at OSU.
The numbers of cervical cancer are so high in Appalachia
Padgett said. You can reduce those numbers with enough education
and the completion of this study could be used as a basis for working with communities in order to reduce these numbers.
