Sunlight may cut breast cancer risk for some women
Exposure to sunlight may reduce the risk of advanced breast cancer in women with light skin pigmentation, according to the results of a population-based study appearing in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
“We believe that sunlight helps reduce women’s risk of breast cancer because the body manufactures the active form of vitamin D from exposure to sunlight,” lead author Dr. Esther M. John, from the Northern California Cancer Center in Fremont, said in a statement.
Many obesity surgery candidates fail psych screen
Pre-operative psychiatric evaluations can reliably spot patients who are not yet ready for obesity surgery, a new study suggests.
Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University in Providence found that of 500 candidates for so-called bariatric surgery at their center, nearly one-fifth did not pass their initial psychiatric evaluation.
Cholesterol drug may improve prostate cancer
Treatment with statins, a widely used class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, which include Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor, is associated with a longer rate of relapse-free survival after radiotherapy for prostate cancer, particularly among patients with more aggressive cancers, researchers reported here at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).
Dr. Michael J. Zelefsky of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and colleagues reviewed data for 871 men with prostate adenocarcinomas treated between January 1995 and July 2000.
Anxiety may raise death risk after heart surgery
People who are prone to anxiety may face greater risks following heart surgery than their counterparts with more relaxed dispositions, a study has found.
In a study of 180 heart surgery patients, Hungarian researchers found that patients with anxiety-prone personalities had a slightly higher death rate and a greater risk of hospitalization in the four years following their surgery.
Rheumatoid arthritis patients’ mortality unchanged
The decline in mortality seen in the U.S. population over the past four decades has not extended to patients with rheumatoid arthritis, despite innovations in rheumatoid arthritis treatment, according to a report in the current issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Rheumatoid arthritis is known to be associated with excess mortality, the authors explain, but whether survival in rheumatoid arthritis patients has improved over time has been unclear.
