Health News

Breast Screening - Do Benefits Outweigh The Harms?

Date: Oct-30-2012
Routine breast cancer screening does reduce death risk, an independent panel of experts reported in The Lancet. However, the practice also results in overdiagnosis; cases of women with false positive results, having to have unnecessary biopsies and other interventions, or patients undergoing treatment for harmless tumors. Experts and patient groups have been debating when breast cancer screening should start, and how often it should occur. It used to be once a year as soon as the woman is 40...

Cardiac Arrest Risk Determined By Where You Live

Date: Oct-30-2012
Cardiac arrest risk partly depends on where a person resides, according to research presented by Dr. Paul Dorian at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2012 in Toronto, which was hosted by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The doctor's research of high and low rates of cardiac arrests in GTA (Greater Toronto Area) communities indicated that components which increase the risks are complicated. Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops beating abruptly...

Survivors Of Certain Cancers Reported Poor Health-Related Quality Of Life Years After Diagnosis

Date: Oct-30-2012
Melanoma, breast and prostate cancer survivors reported quality of life similar to adults without cancer. Cervical, blood, colorectal and short-survival cancer survivors reported worse health compared to adults without cancer. The researchers estimated 3.3 million American cancer survivors have poor physical health...

Smoke-Free Workplace Laws Reduce Heart Attack Rates

Date: Oct-30-2012
The rate of heart attacks, also known as myocardial infarctions, dropped in an area of Minnesota after smoke-free workplace laws were introduced, researchers from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, reported in Archives of Internal Medicine today. Secondhand smoke is also known as passive smoking or environmental tobacco smoke. As background information, the authors explained that secondhand smoke exposure has been linked to coronary heart disease in non-smokers. In fact, some studies have associated passive smoking with a risk of cardiovascular diseases nearly as high as active smoking...

Breast Cancer Tumor Disparity And Socioeconomic Disadvantage Linked

Date: Oct-30-2012
Racial and ethnic disparities in breast tumor aggressiveness might be explained by social factors that influence the developing tumor and place those in disadvantaged groups at higher risk for aggressive breast cancer, according to data presented at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012. "There is a disparity in the biological aggressiveness of breast cancer," said Garth H. Rauscher, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago...

Participation In Clinical Trials High Among Gay, Lesbian And Bisexual Cancer Survivors

Date: Oct-30-2012
Cancer survivors who self-identified as being lesbian, gay or bisexual were more than twice as likely as heterosexual cancer survivors to have participated in cancer clinical trials, according to data from a small study presented at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012. "The data from which our findings were derived were incredibly limited. We have to interpret these data cautiously," said Jennifer M. Jabson, M.P.H., Ph.D...

Care Of Children With Cancer Affected By Language Barriers, Immigration Status Of Hispanic Caregivers

Date: Oct-30-2012
Language barriers and the immigration status of caregivers appear to impact the care of Hispanic children with cancer and affect the experience of the families within the medical system, according to data presented at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012. "Ensuring good communication with patients and their families is as important as the actual therapy we give, regardless of what language is spoken," said Mark Fluchel, M.D...

Black Women At Increased Risk For Breast Cancer Mortality, Especially During First 3 Years Post-Diagnosis

Date: Oct-30-2012
Non-Hispanic black women diagnosed with breast cancer, specifically those with estrogen receptor-positive tumors, are at a significantly increased risk for breast cancer death compared with non-Hispanic white women. "This difference was greatest in the first three years after diagnosis," said Erica Warner, M.P.H., Sc.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass., who presented the data at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012...

Less Clinical Trial Information Conveyed To Black Participants Than To Their White Counterparts

Date: Oct-30-2012
A study comparing how physicians discuss clinical trials during clinical interactions with black patients versus white patients further confirms racial disparities in the quality of communication between physicians and patients. Oncologists provided black patients with less information overall about cancer clinical trials compared with white patients, according to data presented at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012...

Mammography Facilities Less Accessible To Women In Less Affluent Areas Of Chicago

Date: Oct-30-2012
Women in socioeconomically disadvantaged and less affluent areas of Chicago were less likely to live near a mammography facility with various aspects of care compared with women in less socioeconomically disadvantaged and more affluent areas. This finding could be a contributing factor to the association between disadvantaged areas and late-stage breast cancer diagnosis, according to data presented at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012...