‘SEX DOESN’T GIVE YOU CANCER!’

Scary reports suggest that having lots of sexual partners could increase your risk of having cancer – Dr C says it’s overblown

Recent headlines warning that having more than ten sexual partners increases the risk of cancer are very stigmatising. The tone implies, “It’s your fault you got cancer because you slept around”, and the statistics are misleading.

GO FOR SCREENINGS

The story in question claimed that older women who had ten or more sexual partners in their lifetime were 91 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, compared with those who only had one.

Some cancers, like cervical, oral, throat, vulval and anal, are linked to sexual infections because of HPV [human papillomavirus], but that doesn’t mean if you get HPV you’ll get cancer. There are more than 100 types of HPV and around 15 are associated with cancers. It’s also very common – 80 per cent of people will have HPV at some point, and your body deals with it. For more harmful strains, changes happen very slowly – that’s why women need to go for their regular cervical screening when they get a letter, so that there is a chance to spot it while it can be treated.

The study also found that those who had more sexual partners were more likely to smoke and drink a lot too, and it didn’t fully take into consideration the impact of smoking or weight – two of the most crucial factors when it comes to cancer.

You can’t ask 6,000 people how many people they’ve slept with, check if they’ve been diagnosed with cancer, and say that one thing caused the other. Cancer has many causes – from lifestyle to genetics.

STAY HEALTHY

We now have an HPV vaccine, so we’re virtually wiping out cervical cancer, while there are around 1,500 cases of anal cancer a year, and 1,300 cases of vulval cancers, so they’re very rare.

Rather than worrying about how many people you’ve slept with, you’d be far better off stopping smoking, keeping a healthy weight, and using sunscreen to protect yourself against cancer.