Breast Cancer Archive

Research we're watching

People living in rural areas of the country appear to be more likely to die from preventable causes compared with people in more urban locations, says a CDC report. The report looked at deaths from 2010 to 2017 and found that people in rural locations were more likely to die from preventable conditions, including cancers and heart and respiratory diseases. In 2010, about 29% of cancer deaths in rural areas were potentially preventable, compared with 18% of cancer deaths in urban areas. In addition, 45% of heart disease deaths in rural locations were deemed preventable, compared with 24% of heart disease deaths in urban areas. The authors suggested several strategies to reduce disparities, including better screening programs and initiatives to encourage better eating and exercise habits, as well as smoking cessation.

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Infections aren't the only conditions that can cause discomfort.

Certain urinary symptoms are quite common, particularly in women: painful burning with urination, an urgent need to urinate like you can't hold it (urinary urgency), and urinating frequently (urinary frequency).

These symptoms can be caused by any of the following conditions.

Statins have been prescribed for decades to lower cholesterol, but a recent study found that one type of statin may provide people with certain kinds of liver disease protection from developing liver cancer.

Women who are hoping to become pregnant want to do everything they can to ensure that their babies will be as healthy as possible, which means following recommendations to minimize the possibility of birth defects.

When should you see a clinician about excessive or unexpected bleeding?

Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is a common problem for women of all ages, accounting for up to one-third of gynecologic office visits. The two main types are heavy bleeding that occurs at an appropriate or expected time, such as a heavy menstrual period (menorrhagia), and any type of bleeding that occurs unexpectedly (metrorrhagia). The absence of regular menstrual periods for several months (amenorrhea) is also considered an abnormal bleeding pattern. AUB can be tricky to identify, because what's normal depends on a woman's reproductive age.

New research again links increased breast cancer risk to longer use of hormone therapy.

The link between hormone therapy and breast cancer has been recognized for years. But an analysis published Aug. 29, 2019, in The Lancet has added some additional information to the discussion. The analysis looked at 58 studies that included information on the type and timing of hormone use in individual women, and their body mass index. Researchers began gathering the studies in 1992 and continued until 2018.

We asked Dr. Wendy Chen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, to help us sort through both the old and new information on hormone use and breast cancer and what it means for women considering starting hormone therapy.

Research we're watching

Doing genetic tests on all women with breast cancer, as compared with the typical practice of just testing those with a family history of the disease, is worth the extra cost, according to a study published online Oct. 3, 2019, by JAMA Oncology. The study authors say their findings should prompt the expansion of genetic testing to all women diagnosed with breast cancer. It's clear that testing breast cancer patients for genetic variants that raise breast cancer risk (such as BRCA1, BRCA2, and PALB2) would enable doctors to identify more women who carry these variants and who might benefit from preventive strategies. But researchers wondered whether doing so would be too costly. To answer that question, they used a computer model to analyze data from more than 11,000 women. They found that not only would the cost of testing all American women with breast cancer be balanced out by later savings on health care services, but also that just one year of testing could prevent an estimated 9,700 new cases of breast and ovarian cancer and 2,400 deaths.

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