Tag Archives: prevention

Cancer survivors in rural areas forgo health care because of cost

Data analysis showed cancer survivors in rural areas who were aged 65 or older were 66 percent more likely to forgo medical care and 54 percent more likely to forgo dental care because of cost, compared with their urban counterparts. "This is the first population-based study to examine whether cancer survivors in rural and urban areas are equally likely to forgo health care as a result of concerns about cost," said Nynikka Palmer, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. "We found a disparity among older survivors, for whom health insurance coverage through Medicare is almost universal, while no disparity was found for younger survivors after controlling for various factors. This suggests that health insurance coverage alone may not ensure equal access to health care…

Cultural differences explain non-completion of HPV vaccination in girls in low-income families

In the study, Spanish-speaking parents whose daughters were not fully vaccinated said their providers either did not encourage the vaccine or didn’t explain that three shots were necessary for full protection. Parents also noted that the vaccine undermined the "no sex before marriage" message they were trying to convey. …

In nonsmoking women, breastfeeding for more than six months may protect against breast cancer

To look at the relationship between breast cancer and certain aspects of pregnancy and breastfeeding, Emilio González-Jiménez, PhD, of the University of Granada in Spain, and his colleagues analyzed the medical records of 504 female patients who were 19 to 91 years of age and who had been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer from 2004 to 2009 at the San Cecilio University Hospital in Granada. …

Finasteride: Long-term survival of participants in prostate cancer prevention trial detailed

New findings reported in NEJM on August 15, 2013, based on follow-up of trial participants for up to 18 years, showed that survival of the men on finasteride was equivalent to men who did not take the drug and the reduction in risk of prostate cancer persists. Among nearly 19,000 eligible men who underwent randomization, prostate cancer was diagnosed in 10.5 percent of those in the finasteride group and 14.9 percent of those in the placebo group, a 30 percent reduction in risk…

Decision aids reduce men’s conflict about PSA screening, but don’t change their decisions

That’s the finding of a new study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine that examined both web-based and printed tools aimed at helping men make informed decisions about PSA testing. In May 2012, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against screening all men for prostate cancer. Most health professional groups recommend shared decision making so that men can understand the limitations of screening before making a decision about being tested. …

Women’s height linked to cancer risk, study finds

Height was linked to cancers of the breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, ovary, rectum, and thyroid, as well as to multiple myeloma and melanoma, and these associations did not change even after adjusting for factors known to influence these cancers, in this study of 20,928 postmenopausal women, identified from a large cohort of 144,701 women recruited to the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). "We were surprised at the number of cancer sites that were positively associated with height…

Link between omega-3 fatty acids and increased prostate cancer risk confirmed

Published July 11 in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the latest findings indicate that high concentrations of EPA, DPA and DHA — the three anti-inflammatory and metabolically related fatty acids derived from fatty fish and fish-oil supplements — are associated with a 71 percent increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer. The study also found a 44 percent increase in the risk of low-grade prostate cancer and an overall 43 percent increase in risk for all prostate cancers. The increase in risk for high-grade prostate cancer is important because those tumors are more likely to be fatal. The findings confirm a 2011 study published by the same Fred Hutch scientific team that reported a similar link between high blood concentrations of DHA and a more than doubling of the risk for developing high-grade prostate cancer. …