Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.This theme is Bloggerized by Lasantha Bandara - Premiumbloggertemplates.com.
Reduction in risk of colon cancer in people who took 600 mg of aspirin daily for at least two years, compared with those who took placebo. The randomized trial, published in The Lancet, focused on patients with Lynch syndrome, a rare genetic condition that predisposes people to colorectal and other cancers, so the findings don't easily translate to the general public. [via MedPage Today]
NEW YORK | Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:33pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new research review confirms that people with diabetes have a somewhat increased risk of colon cancer -- but the reasons for the connection, and what should be done about it, remain unclear.
Combining the results of 14 international studies, researchers found that overall, people with diabetes were 38 percent more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer than those who were diabetes-free.
There was also a 20 percent increase in the risk of rectal cancer, though that appeared to be confined to men.
The findings, reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, do not prove that diabetes directly contributes to colon cancer in some people.
The results come from observational studies in which people with diabetes were found to have a higher risk of colon cancer than those without diabetes. In most of the studies, the researchers adjusted for at least some factors that might explain the link -- like older age, obesity and smoking -- and the diabetes-cancer connection remained.
However, there could still be other explanations.
"I think we can make the statement that diabetes is consistently associated with colorectal cancer," Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved the study, told Reuters Health in an email.
"The cause-and-effect aspect is a bit difficult to consider since diabetes is such a complex disease," said Giovannucci, who studies the underlying causes of colon cancer.
He said it seems likely that some aspect of diabetes contributes to colon cancer, but it's not certain what.
One theory is that hormones are involved.
People with diabetes tend to have high levels of the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin, as well as related hormones called insulin-like growth factors. Those hormones cause cells to grow and spread, and that may include cancer cells.
Whatever the mechanism, if diabetes does contribute to colon cancer, it's not clear what the implications would be.
People with diabetes are not advised to get colon cancer screening any more often, or at a younger age, than people without diabetes, said Dr. Hiroki Yuhara, who led the new study while based at the University of California, Berkeley.
And it's not clear if that advice will change at any time in the future, Yuhara told Reuters Health in an email.
Experts recommend that most people start colon cancer screening at the age of 50, with any of several tests -- including stool tests that look for hidden blood, or invasive tests like sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy.
People with certain risk factors for colon cancer -- like inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease or colitis) or a strong family history of the cancer -- are told to start screening earlier. Diabetes is not currently considered one of those risk factors.
And there's evidence that the link between diabetes and colon cancer risk may be weakening.
A study published last year by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) found that among more than 184,000 older Americans followed for 15 years, men with type 2 diabetes were about one-quarter more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer than diabetes-free men were.
But that increase in risk was modest and, the researchers said, smaller than past studies had suggested.
What's more, there was no similar increase seen among women with type 2 diabetes. (The study was not included in the current analysis, which considered studies published from the 1990s through 2009, from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan.)
The ACS researchers speculated that the findings might reflect better diabetes control among Americans -- and women, in particular -- in recent years. A separate government study had shown that U.S. women with diabetes improved their long-term blood sugar control between 1999 and 2004.
In theory, better blood sugar control would mean lower insulin levels, which might affect colon cancer risk.
But that's speculation. For now, Giovannucci recommended that people focus on maintaining a healthy weight and getting regular exercise: Obesity is a risk factor for both diabetes and colon cancer.
According to Yuhara, people with diabetes should be aware of the link to colon cancer risk, and follow their doctors' advice on screening for the cancer.
It's estimated that just over 101,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer in 2011, while almost 40,000 will be told they have rectal cancer, according to the ACS. The average American has about a 1 in 20 lifetime chance of developing either cancer.
SOURCE: bit.ly/qJa6tK American Journal of Gastroenterology, online September 13, 2011.
View the original article here
NEW YORK | Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:05pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Middle-aged men are twice as likely as women to end up with a cancer diagnosis after colonoscopy, according to an Austrian study that challenges screening guidelines.
Guidelines currently advise that people at average risk of colon cancer start screening for the disease at age 50, regardless of gender.
But the new work, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows a discrepancy of nearly 10 years between men and women in the development of colon and rectal tumors.
That means the same number of 55-year-old men would need to undergo colonoscopies -- in this case, around 80 -- to spot one cancer, as would be true for 65-year-old women. The same logic held true for the pre-cancerous growths called advanced adenomas, which doctors also scout for during colonoscopies.
However, a U.S. expert warned about making decisions regarding when to start screening based on the new findings.
"I would discourage women from looking at this study and saying, 'Gee, I can wait longer,'" said Dr. Michael LeFevre of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a federally supported expert panel. "And I would discourage men from saying, 'Gee, I should start sooner.'"
The USPSTF recommends colon cancer screening between the ages of 50 and 75 using one of a number of types of tests. The advantage of colonoscopy, which costs around $3,000, is that it only has to be repeated once every ten years, as opposed to every year for the much cheaper stool test.
About one in 19 men develops colon cancer at some point and slightly fewer women do. The disease, which usually strikes older adults, is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S.
To get a better idea of when to start screening, Dr. Monika Ferlitsch and her colleagues looked at data from more than 44,000 Austrians, who'd had colonoscopies between 2007 and 2010.
Overall, they found 25 percent of men had adenomas, compared to only 15 percent of women. For full-blown tumors, those numbers were 1.5 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
At 0.8 percent, the rate of colon cancer among men aged 50 to 54, for instance, was twice that found among women in the same age group. That means 125 men would need to have a colonoscopy to find one tumor, versus 264 women.
While the reasons for the difference are still murky, Ferlitsch, of the Medical University of Vienna, said it could be linked to a higher degree of overweight and fatty liver disease among men -- both of which have been linked to colon cancer.
While her team suggests "screening recommendations concerning age should be reconsidered," Ferlitsch wasn't ready to give practical advice.
"It's a difficult question if we should delay screening in women or start it earlier in men," she told Reuters Health.
LeFevre said the USPSTF will take the new results into consideration as the panel updates its guidelines over the next couple of years.
Meanwhile, he told Reuters Health, "I think people can safely stick with the recommendation on the table to start screening at age 50, whether they are a man or a woman."
SOURCE: bit.ly/ox7Dtb Journal of the American Medical Association, September 27, 2011.
View the original article here
n">(Reuters) - People with diabetes have a somewhat increased risk of colon cancer, an international study said -- but the reasons for the connection, and what should be done about it, remain unclear.
Researchers headed by Hiroki Yuhara, at the University of California, Berkeley, combined the results of 14 international studies and found that, overall, people with diabetes were 38 percent more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer than those who were diabetes-free.
There was also a 20 percent increase in the risk of rectal cancer, though that appeared to be confined to men, according to the findings, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
"These data suggest that diabetes mellitus is an independent risk factor for colon and rectal cancer," Yuhara and his colleagues wrote.
The findings do not prove that diabetes directly contributes to colon cancer in some people.
The results come from observational studies in which people with diabetes were found to have a higher risk of colon cancer than those without diabetes. In most of the studies, the researchers adjusted for at least some factors that might explain the link -- like older age, obesity and smoking -- and the diabetes-cancer connection remained.
"I think we can make the statement that diabetes is consistently associated with colorectal cancer," said Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study.
"The cause-and-effect aspect is a bit difficult to consider since diabetes is such a complex disease," he told Reuters Health in an email.
He said it seems likely that some aspect of diabetes contributes to colon cancer, but it's not certain what.
One theory is that hormones are involved.
People with Diabetes tend to have high levels of the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin, as well as related hormones called insulin-like growth factors. Those hormones cause cells to grow and spread, and that may include cancer cells.
If diabetes does contribute to colon cancer, it's not clear what the implications would be.
People with diabetes are not advised to get colon cancer screening any more often, or at a younger age, than people without diabetes, said Yuhara.
It's also not clear if that advice will change at any time in the future. Experts recommend that most people start colon cancer screening at the age of 50.
People with certain risk factors for colon cancer, such as a strong family history of the cancer, are told to start screening earlier. Diabetes is not currently considered one of those risk factors.
And there's evidence the link between diabetes and colon cancer risk may be weakening.
A study published last year by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS), and not included in the current analysis, found that among the 184,000 older U.S. residents followed for 15 years, men with type 2 diabetes were about one-quarter more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer than diabetes-free men were.
But that increase in risk was modest, and smaller than past studies had suggested. In addition, there was no similar increase seen among women with type 2 diabetes.
The ACS researchers speculated that the findings might reflect better diabetes control among U.S. residents -- and women in particular -- in recent years. In theory, better blood control would mean lower insulin levels, which might affect colon cancer risk.
For now, Giovannucci recommended that people focus on maintaining a healthy weight and getting regular exercise.
The analysis included studies published from the 1990s through 2009, from the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. SOURCE: bit.ly/qJa6tK
(Reporting from New York by Amy Norton at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)
View the original article here
