In The News This Week … Apr. 13–19, 2008: Cancer; Men's, Women's, & Kids' Health; Ghostwriters

Alcohol & Breast Cancer

A paper entitled "Alcohol consumption and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women: the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study" was presented on April 13 during the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Researchers looked at 184,418 postmenopausal women and found that moderate drinking increased the risk of developing breast cancer, and that tumors classified as positive for both estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER+/PR+) showed a stronger association with alcohol than that seen in the overall group. When compared to non-drinkers, women who consumed less than one drink daily had a 7% increase in relative risk for developing ER+/PR+ breast cancer, while those who drank one to two drinks daily had a 32% increase in relative risk, and those who drank three or more drinks daily had a 51% increase. About 70% of breast tumors are classified as ER+/PR+. The study's first author, Jasmine Q. Lew, stated, "Our study at this point provides evidence for the notion that alcohol affects estrogen metabolism, which increases risk of hormone sensitive breast cancer. … Still, more study is needed to clarify the effect of alcohol on other tumor types."

Exercise and Prostate Cancer

Also from the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research is the finding that, in tests on mice, implanted prostate tumors grew more quickly in the animals that exercised than in those that did not. In an April 13 news release, the senior investigator said, "We found that among the mice that had the opportunity to voluntarily exercise, tumors grew approximately twice as fast as they did among the mice that did not have the opportunity to exercise." The news release also stated, "The researchers want to caution men against interpreting these findings as an endorsement for not exercising for fear of getting or exacerbating cancer. 'These mice were not receiving treatment and we were allowing aggressive tumors to grow unchecked for the sake of the experiment … Patients would not find themselves in the same situation.'"

Loop Diuretics & Bone Loss in Men

Research published in the April 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine has found that the use of loop diuretics (e.g., Lasix) in older men is associated with increased rates of hip bone loss. Men who used the loop diuretics regularly had bone loss averaging at .78% per year, while those who used the drugs intermittently had bone loss averaging at .58% per year, and those who did not use the drugs had bone loss averaging .33% per year. The findings were based on 3,269 men aged 65+ who were assessed at baseline and an average of 4.6 years later.

DASH & Cardiovascular Health in Women

An investigation published in the April 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine has concluded that a Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is associated with a lower risk of CHD and stroke among middle-aged women. The findings were based on a group of 88,517 female nurses aged 34 to 59, who were assessed seven times during a 24-year follow-up period between 1980 and 2004.

Diet & Kids' Academic Achievement

An article published in the April issue of the Journal of School Health, looked at 5,200 fifth-graders in Nova Scotia, Canada, who were participating in the Lifestyle and School-performance Study. Researchers found, across various indicators of diet quality, an association with academic performance, in that students with decreased overall diet quality were significantly more likely to perform poorly academically in school.

Preemies

An article published in the April 17 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine looked at factors that affect the likelihood of a preemie's favorable outcome, beyond gestational age. The study, based on a cohort of 4,446 infants born at 22 to 25 weeks' gestation, concluded: "The likelihood of a favorable outcome with intensive care can be better estimated by consideration of four factors in addition to gestational age: Sex, exposure or nonexposure to antenatal corticosteroids, whether single or multiple birth, and birth weight." Among the 4,192 study infants for whom outcomes were determined at 18 to 22 months, 49% died, 61% died or had profound impairment, and 73% died or had impairment. For more information, also see the April 16 news release from the National Institutes of Health.

Ghostwriters in the Journals

A communication published in the April 16 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association studied approximately 250 documents originally obtained during litigation over Merck's drug rofecoxib (Vioxx). Among 96 relevant published articles, researchers found that 92% (22 of 24) of clinical trial articles included a disclosure of Merck's financial support, but only 50% (36 of 72) of review articles contained either a disclosure of Merck sponsorship or a disclosure of whether the author had received financial compensation from Merck. The authors concluded that their review of industry documents showed that clinical trial manuscripts concerning rofecoxib were authored by the sponsor's employees, "…but often attributed first authorship to academically affiliated investigators who did not always disclose industry financial support. Review manuscripts were often prepared by unacknowledged authors and subsequently attributed authorship to academically affiliated investigators who often did not disclose industry financial support."

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