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Spiritual Outlook Can Affect Mental Health in Breast Cancer

July 20, 2009

FRIDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) — Among breast cancer patients, a positive religious attitude is not linked to measures of well-being, but a negative religious or spiritual outlook can lead to worse emotional and mental health, a recent study suggests.

The study included 198 women with early-stage breast cancer and 86 women with late-stage breast cancer, who were recruited from hospitals in western Pennsylvania. The women were interviewed at the start of the study and again eight to 12 months later.

The participants were asked whether they felt they were receiving support and guidance from God (positive religious coping) or whether they felt angry at God for letting them develop breast cancer (negative religious coping). Read More

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Reminders Boost Mammography Appointments

July 15, 2009

TUESDAY, July 14 (HealthDay News) — Breast cancer screenings increased more than 17 percent through the use of a reminder program for women who were due for a mammogram, a new U.S. study shows.

Kaiser Permanente staff checked electronic health records of its 35,000 members to identify women aged 50 to 69 who hadn’t had a mammogram for 20 months. They were sent a postcard reminder. If they didn’t make an appointment within a month, they received an automated reminder call. If they didn’t respond to that in a month, they received another automated reminder call. If they still didn’t make an appointment, they received a phone call from a clerk in the radiology department. Read More

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More Mammograms May Mean More ‘Harmless’ Cancers

July 10, 2009

THURSDAY, July 9 (HealthDay News) — One of every three breast cancers detected by a screening mammogram is unlikely to ever cause a problem, a new study predicts.

The report of a so-called overdiagnosis rate of 35 percent came from an examination of breast cancer screening programs in five countries conducted by Danish researchers and published online Thursday in BMJ.

The finding echoes those of a study published late last year that concluded that some breast cancers may naturally disappear without treatment. Read More

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New Clues to Race Gap in Breast Cancer Outcomes

July 8, 2009

TUESDAY, July 7 (HealthDay News) — The racial gap in breast cancer outcomes, with black women more likely to die from the disease, can’t be explained completely by any one factor, new research shows.

For a quarter of a century, researchers have been aware of the so-called race gap in certain cancers. The racial disparity “first emerged about 25 years ago,” said Idan Menashe, a postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, who led one of two studies on the topic, both published in the July 15 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Read More

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Breast Cancer Numbers Dip Most in Wealthy, Urban Areas

June 26, 2009

FRIDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) — Cases of invasive breast cancer in the United States have declined overall, but the decrease is significantly less marked in poor women who live in rural areas, possibly due to differences in the use of hormone therapy (HT), a new study suggests.

Researchers at the Northern California Cancer Center studied national breast cancer incidence data for the years 1997 to 2004 to compare rates in rural and urban areas and poor and rich areas of the country. Read More

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New Cancer Drug Fights Tumors in Those With BRCA Mutations

June 25, 2009

WEDNESDAY, June 24 (HealthDay News) — A new cancer drug called olaparib worked well in an early clinical trial against breast, ovarian and prostate cancers in individuals who were genetically vulnerable to developing these malignancies.

Women who carry BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations are susceptible to developing breast and ovarian cancer, and among men these mutations are related to an increased risk for prostate cancer, the British researchers noted. Read More

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Study: Weight-Loss Surgery Cuts Cancer Risk in Women

June 24, 2009
weight-loss-surgery

(ISTOCKPHOTO)
By Denise Mann

WEDNESDAY, June 24, 2009 (Health.com) — Weight-loss surgery can sometimes reverse type 2 diabetes and ease other obesity-related conditions. Now, new research suggests that obese women who undergo bariatric surgery experience a 42% drop in their cancer risk.

Exactly why this occurs and whether it’s also true for obese men is not yet clear. Obesity is a known risk factor for colon, breast, endometrial, kidney, and esophageal cancers. However, the researchers found that the surgery-related weight loss and drop in caloric intake did not seem to be solely responsible for the decline in the women’s cancer risk, according to the report in the July issue of Lancet Oncology. Read More

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Gene Can Dampen Chemo Drug Effectiveness

June 11, 2009

WEDNESDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) — Women with a certain type of gene may show marked resistance to an important chemotherapy drug used to treat breast cancer, new research suggests.

Scientists at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) suspect that the variation in the SOD2 gene affects how a patient responds to cyclophosphamide, an agent used against breast tumors, blood cancers and other malignancies. The research is the first to show a mechanism and a biomarker for cyclophosphamide resistance. Read More

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Antioxidants May Hinder Breast Cancer Treatment

June 8, 2009
vitamin-cancer

(ISTOCKPHOTO)
By Denise Mann

MONDAY, June 8, 2009 (Health.com) — Think that vitamins can only help—but never hurt—a condition? Although that’s true in many cases, some vitamins can be harmful to certain people or under special circumstances.

Now a new study shows that many breast cancer patients take powerful antioxidant vitamins during radiation or chemotherapy—despite evidence suggesting that antioxidants may be more harmful than helpful during such treatments.

“It is possible that if you are taking concentrated high-grade antioxidant vitamins in significant doses, it may interfere with your treatment,” says Marisa Weiss, MD, the president and founder of advocacy group Breastcancer.org and the author of several books, including Taking Care of Your Girls: A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In-Betweens. Read More

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Grilled Meats Not Tied to Breast Cancer in Older Women

June 8, 2009

FRIDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) — Eating meat doesn’t increase postmenopausal women’s risk for breast cancer, new research has found.

Previous studies looking at whether eating meat and increased breast cancer risk might be linked have yielded inconsistent results.

In the new study, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University analyzed data on 120,755 older American women, including the types of food the women ate, how often they ate certain foods and how they prepared their meat. Read More

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