When a person is first diagnosed with cancer and undergoes treatment, their work may suffer; but in the long run, most people who survive cancer work a similar number of hours as anyone else, new study findings show"Cancer patients have reason to remain optimistic about the future," study author Dr. Pamela F. Short, of Pennsylvania State University, told Reuters Health. "There are more than 10 million cancer survivors in the United States, and cancer is no longer the death sentence that it once was." "Furthermore," she added, "our study suggests that the careers of survivors are not usually affected over the long term -- especially if they remain cancer free.
It is known that cancer treatment has a short-term effect on patients' employment and productivity. One study found that 4 out of every 10 patients stop working while they receive treatment, while other researchers reported that people receiving cancer treatment are absent from their jobs more often than are people with other chronic conditions. Overall, both male and female cancer survivors who remained cancer free worked only 3 to 5 fewer hours each week, on average, than did those in the comparison group, the investigators report in the journal Health Services Research.
However, those who developed a new cancer during the study period, as did 20 percent of the cancer survivors, worked up to 14 fewer hours per week than they had previously, on average.
Therefore, people with recurrent or second cancers "may particularly benefit from supportive services to help them continue working," the researchers write. In light of the findings, "employers, who are generally required to accommodate the absences and health problems of employees who undergo cancer treatment, should be reassured that these employees are not more likely to quit working afterwards," the researchers conclude.
Inflammatory genes cause lung cancer:
Changes in two genes that activate the immune system after tissue damage may increase lung cancer risk, researchers report.
The changes were found on the genes for interleukin 1A and 1B, two molecules that immune system cells secrete in response to infection or tissue damage. The changes may cause the body to overproduce the molecules, which could sustain the inflammatory effects of the damage.
Writing in the July issue of Cancer Research, the researchers observed a stronger effect of the genes in heavy tobacco smokers.
"Our findings help explain how heavy smoking, for example, combines with a genetic predisposition to create a besieged environment within the lungs," lead author Dr. Eric Engels, researcher at the Viral Epidemiology Branch of the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, said in a prepared statement. "Essentially, sustained inflammation alters the microenvironment of the lung tissue, damaging cells and altering DNA."
The study is the first to pinpoint the mechanism by which damage to the lung might cause an inflammatory response from the immune system, leading to cancer. Inflammation is a normal part of the immune system's response to the effects of infection and cell damage, but the researchers argue that prolonged inflammation could increase the risk of lung cancer.
The team examined differences in genes related to inflammation among more than 1,500 lung cancer patients and 1,700 healthy adults. More than 80 percent of the lung cancer patients were former or current smokers.
The researchers then analyzed 59 variations on 37 inflammation-related genes. They found variants in the genes for interleukin 1A and 1B more frequently in patients with lung cancer, especially among heavy smokers.
More Americans die from lung cancer each year than any other type of cancer. In 2003, the most recent year for which data is available, 105,508 men and 84,789 women were diagnosed with lung cancer, while 89,906 men and 68,084 women died from the disease.
Meats and sweets may cause breast cancer:
A study of older Chinese women suggests that a move toward a Western-style diet -- heavy on meat and sugary foods -- boosts breast cancer risk.
Postmenopausal Chinese women who ate a diet that included red meat, starches and sweets were twice as likely to develop breast cancer than those who ate the traditional vegetable-soy-fish diet, according to a study in the July issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The dietary habits of the women with the 1,602 breast cancer cases were compared to those of more than 1,500 women without breast cancer.
The researchers found that overweight, postmenopausal women who ate a western-style diet had a greater than twofold increased risk of estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers. There was no association between breast cancer risk and a vegetable-soy-fish diet.
The "meat-sweet" western diet relies on various kinds of meats, saltwater fish and shellfish, bread, milk, dessert and candy. The vegetable-soy-fish diet favors various vegetables, soy-based products, and freshwater fish.
"The Shanghai data gave us a unique look at a population of Chinese women who were beginning to adopt more western-style eating habits," researcher Marilyn Tseng, an associate member in the population science division at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, said in a prepared statement. "Our study suggests the possibility that the 'meat-sweet' pattern interacts with obesity to increase breast cancer risk," Tseng said. "Low consumption of a western dietary pattern plus successful weight control may protect against breast cancer in a traditionally low-risk Asian population that is poised to more broadly adopt foods characteristic of western societies."
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