Smoking Exposure Now Linked to Colon And Breast Cancers

Add colorectal and breast cancer to the list of malignancies caused by smoking according to new studies.

Two studies strengthen the case for the dangers of secondhand smoke for people exposed to fumes as children and as adults. According to the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance, some 17 cancers are now attributed to smoking. Cancer and heart disease are the major critical illnesses impacting millions of Americans yearly.

Inhaling secondhand fumes may raise a woman's odds for breast cancer or a child's lifetime risk for lung malignancies according to the studies. Another study found that long-term smokers have a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer, a finding that factored into the recent decision by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to assert that there is "sufficient" evidence to link the two, up from its previous "limited" evidence.

In preparing their reports, the researchers adjusted for other colorectal cancer risk factors, such as not getting screened, obesity, physical activity and eating a lot of red or processed meats. They noted that people who smoke are already more likely to engage in these types of behaviors.

This study followed almost 200,000 people over 13 years. According to the medical researchers, current smokers had a 27 percent increased risk of colorectal cancer and former smokers a 23 percent increased risk compared with people who had never smoked.

People who had smoked for at least half a century had the highest risk -- 38 percent higher than never smokers -- of developing colorectal cancer. People who ceased smoking before the age of 40 or who had not smoked for 31 or more years had no increased risk.

Other studies focused on the risk of secondhand smoke, or passive smoking. In one, children exposed to secondhand smoke had a higher risk of developing lung cancer as adults, researchers from institutions including the U.S. National Cancer Institute found. In another, California researchers found that adult non-smoking women who had spent long periods of time in smoking environments upped their odds of developing postmenopausal breast cancer.

The breast cancer findings were seen mostly in postmenopausal women, with a 17 percent higher risk for those who had had low exposure, a 19 percent increased risk for those with medium exposure and a 26 percent increased risk for those who had high long-term exposure over their lifetime.

The studies were published in the December issue of Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention,

More Americans Surviving Lung Cancer

Survival rates for advanced lung cancer patients in the United States have improved modestly.

According to the new study, researchers found that one-year overall survival rate for lung cancer increased from 13.2 percent in 1990 to 19.4 percent in 2005, while two-year overall survival increased from 4.5 percent to 7.8 percent.

Some 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer according to the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance. Lung and bronchial cancers account for about 15 percent of all cancer.

Researchers analyzed data on more than 100,000 patients diagnosed with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between 1990 and 2005. The patient information was in the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database.

The study authors noted that the improved survival rates may come from changes in the management of advanced lung cancer over the past two decades, including new chemotherapy agents and regimens, increased use of salvage chemotherapy and the introduction of molecularly targeted therapies.

The study is published in the December issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

Breast Cancer Hits Well Educated Women Hardest By Breast Cancer

Well-educated women are emotionally the hardest hit by breast cancer.

A study undertaken by Australia's Monash University Medical School's Women's Health Program, found that well-educated women and those who live alone are emotionally the hardest hit. 

Nearly 1.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in 2010 according to the American Association for Critical Illness Insurance, the industry trade group, including almost 180,000 breast cancer cases in women.  Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. With improvements in detection and treatment of breast cancer, 87 per cent of women affected survive five years or more from the time of detection.

The researchers found that two years post diagnosis women with breast cancer were not more likely to be depressed but were more likely to experience a lowered sense of control over their life, and lower general health, with lessened vitality being limited to older women.

Women living alone were more likely to have a lower well being is an important finding suggesting that such women may benefit by targeted provision of social support.   

The study reported that women's well being two years out from being treated for the disease was overall only modestly lower than for women in general. 

Posted by Jesse Slome
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