WOMEN in their fifties are increasingly putting their lives at risk by not present-ing for cervical cancer screening.
The revelation comes amid rising diagnosis rates for the killer disease.
The proportion of women aged 55 to 59 attending regular screening has dropped from about 82% to 74%.
Yet over the last decade the number of women diagnosed with cervical cancer in this age group has increased from 14% to 24%, according to the charity Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust.
Its research found that one-third of British women aged between 50 to 70 believe the test to be unnecessary.
Trust director Robert Music said: "Cervical cancer is a largely preventable disease thanks to the cervical screening programme. So we are extremely worried about this trend in Scotland where women are ignoring their last invitation as this could potentially lead to an increase in incidence of the disease."
Cervical cancer is the 19th most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 1% of all new cases. In women, it is the 11th most common cancer, accounting for around 2% of all new cases of cancer in females.
The base incidence rate shows around 11 new cervical cancer cases for every 100,000 females in the UK.
Health Secretary Alex Neill said: "Cervical screening saves around 5000 lives in the UK every year and prevents eight out of 10 cervical cancers from developing.
"I would urge all eligible women in Scotland to find out about cervical screening so they can be as informed as possible about the benefits of screening every three years."
l Medical experts are reviewing the safety of a widely used drug to treat diabetes after it was linked to pancreatic cancer.
Researchers have suggested there could be a link between incretin mimetics, which are used to treat Type 2 diabetes by regulating blood sugar, and the disease.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) said US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency are meeting to discuss the matter later this month.
The review was launched after independent analysis of health insurance data found people taking such drugs could be twice as likely to be admitted to hospital with pancreatitis compared with people taking other anti-diabetic drugs, the BMJ said.
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