In The News This Week … May 11–17, 2008: Cancer, Preeclampsia, Kids, PTSD, Obesity, DVT, & Surgery

Smoking-Lung Cancer Clue

Findings published in the May 13 issue of the British Journal of Cancer report that lung cells exposed to cigarette smoke produce less of a protein called FANCD2, which is responsible for repairing damaged DNA. Researchers wrote, "…this suppression of FANCD2 expression was sufficient to induce both genetic instability and programmed cell death in the exposed cell population."

Cutting Breast Cancer Risk in Younger Women

A paper published online on May 13 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, which looked at 64,777 premenopausal women in the Nurses' Health Study II concluded that leisure time physical activity was associated with a reduced risk of premenopausal breast cancer, and that premenopausal women who regularly engage in high amounts of physical activity during both adolescence and adulthood may gain the most benefit.

Breastfeeding & Future Breast Cancer Risk

An article published in the May issue of Epidemiology reports that women who were breastfed may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than those who were not – unless they were firstborn. The findings were based on a study of 2,016 women (aged 20 to 69) with breast cancer and 1,960 women of similar age without breast cancer.

Vitamin D Deficiency and Breast Cancer

A paper presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting this week reports finding an association between low levels of vitamin D and breast cancer metastasis and prognosis. Women with breast cancer who had low levels of vitamin D were almost twice as likely to have the disease spread and were 73% more likely to die from the disease. The findings were based on 512 women (average age 50.4 years) with newly diagnosed breast cancer at three University of Toronto hospitals between 1989 and 1995.

Preeclampsia Clue?

Research published online on May 11 in Nature suggests that some cases of preeclampsia may have a genetic link. In tests on mice, those deficient in an enzyme called COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase) developed preeclampsia. COMT is involved in the development of new blood vessels and 2-ME (2-methoxyoestradiol), a protein which normally increases during the last three months of human pregnancy. Mice that were given COMT had their preeclampsia "cured."

Placement of Kids' Safety Seats

A paper published in the May issue of Pediatrics looked at insurance claim records in 16 states, and found that kids aged three and younger were 43% less likely to be injured when their car seat was placed in the center of the back seat rather than at one of the sides.

New Method for Early Detection of Autism

McMaster University's Early Autism Study has been using eye tracker technology that measures eye direction while babies look at faces, eyes, and bouncing balls on a computer screen to detect autism in children as young as nine months. In a May 15 news release, Professor Mel Rutherford who leads the research, says, "What's important about this study is that now we can distinguish between a group of siblings with autism from a group with no autism – at nine months and 12 months. … I can do this in 10 minutes, and it is objective, meaning that the only measure is eye direction; it's not influenced by a clinician's report or by intuition. Nobody's been able to distinguish between these groups at so early an age." Rutherford will be presenting her peer-reviewed findings this week at the International Society for Autism Research's 7th Annual International Meeting for Autism Research in London, England. Currently, the earliest diagnostic test for autism is reliable around the age of two.

Another Predictor of PTSD Risk?

In January 2008, research had shown that concussions were strongly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder among deployed soldiers. Now, research published in the May issue of Epidemiology reports that those who had been assaulted before entering military service are more than twice as likely to develop PTSD after combat deployment. Researchers found that 22% of women and 12% of men reporting previous assault experienced new-onset PTSD symptoms or diagnosis, compared to 10% of women and 6% of men not reporting previous assault. They concluded, "Prior assault appears to confer increased vulnerability for, rather than resilience against, PSTD symptoms among military professionals deployed to recent combat operations."

Obesity Rates & Race

An investigation published in the May 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, which involved data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, has found that a large proportion of white, African American, and Hispanic participants were overweight (range: 60% to 85%) and obese (range: 30% to 50%). According to researchers, the finding that fewer Chinese American participants were overweight (33%) or obese (5%), "…indicates that high rates of obesity should not be considered inevitable." However, overall they warned, "These findings may be viewed as indicators of potential future increases in vascular disease burden and health care costs associated with the obesity epidemic."

Another Obesity-Related Problem?

Think about the potential problems caused by obesity … Was global warming one of them? A letter published in the May 17 issue of The Lancet argues that obese people consume 18% more food energy than those who are not obese. This adds up to more fossil fuels burned to produce food and transport food – and more fossil fuels used to transport the individuals "… which will increase even further if, as is likely, the overweight people in response to their increased body mass choose to walk less and drive more."

Air Pollution and DVT

Most of us have heard of the risk of travel-related DVT, but how about pollution-related DVT? Research published in the May 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, which looked at 870 DVT patients and 1,210 controls from the Lombardy region in Italy, concluded that long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with altered coagulation function and DVT risk, and that other DVT risk factors may modulate the effect of the pollution.

Risks of Beta-Blockers with Surgery

Research published online on May 13 in The Lancet looked at the effects of perioperative beta-blockers to reduce cardiovascular risk in noncardiac surgeries. Researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial, done in 190 hospitals in 23 countries, involving 4,174 beta-blocker and 4,177 placebo patients. They found that while fewer patients who received a beta-blocker before surgery had an MI after surgery, those in the beta-blocker group were 33% more likely to die within a month, and had more than double the risk of stroke compared to those receiving a placebo. In a May 13 news release, principal investigator Dr. P.J. Devereaux said, "For more than a decade, guidelines have recommended giving beta-blockers to patients having noncardiac surgery. Even if only 10 percent of physicians acted on the guideline recommendations throughout the last decade, 100 million patients would have received a beta-blocker around the time of surgery. If the results of POISE are widely applicable, throughout the last decade, 800,000 patients would have died prematurely and 500,000 patients would have suffered a stroke because they were given a beta-blocker around the time of surgery. … This highlights the risk in assuming a perioperative beta-blocker regimen has benefit without substantial harm, and the importance and need for large randomized trials in the surgical setting."

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