Obese women are less likely than normal weight women to get the recommended screenings for breast and cervical cancer, a review of cancer screening studies shows.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health examined 32 studies looking at breast cancer (10 studies), cervical cancer (14 studies) and colorectal cancer (8 studies). According to the studies, being obese meant having a body mass index of 30 or above. BMI is a ratio of height to weight.

Overall, obese women were 10 percent to 40 percent less likely to be screened for breast cancer and cervical cancer compared to other women. African-American women seemed to be much less affected by obesity when it came to screenings.

The findings are worrisome and deserve attention in the doctor’s office, study leader Sarah Cohen, a graduate student in the department of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said, according to the Washington Post.

“Because obesity is becoming an increasing problem in our health-care system, encouraging women who are overweight and obese to be screened may be especially important. It's important for physicians to address it and encourage women to be screened,” she said.

It’s not certain why obese women are less likely to get screened, but, according to Dr. Cohen, there are some reasons for which these women avoid this type of medical consultation.

“It may be related to patients' emotional barriers, things like embarrassment and fear of being weighed. It may be provider-bias, physicians having a bias against obese patients. And [obese women] have other health-care needs, like dealing with high cholesterol.”

Another reason may be the medical equipment, which is not sized properly to accommodate larger patients.

Also, “women with low-incomes choose high-caloric foods and have difficulty in being particularly careful with their lifestyle. They may also be largely uninsured and have minimal access to screening programs,” Dr. Massimo Cristofanili, an associate professor in the department of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Center in Houston said, according to the Post.

Dr. Cohen and colleagues want to see more studies done to find ways to encourage heavier women to get cancer screening, as extra weight is associated with increased risk of some cancers.

According to the National Cancer Institute, women are recommended to have a mammogram to detect breast cancer every one to two years, starting at age 40, and a Pap test to screen for cervical cancer at least once a every three years, beginning about three years after they start sexual life.

Dr. Cohen’s review appears in today’s advance online edition of Cancer and is due for publication in the journal’s May 1 print edition.