© 2003 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 95, No. 10, 707,
May 21, 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
In Brief
Excess Body Weight Associated With Higher Risk of Cancer MortalityBeing overweight may increase a person’s risk of dying from cancer, according to the largest prospective study to date on the association between excess body weight and cancer.
Eugenia E. Calle, Ph.D., and her colleagues from the American Cancer Society followed 404,576 men and 495,477 women over a 16-year period and found that men and women who were among the heaviest (defined by a body mass index of 40.0 or more) had 52% and 62% higher rates of deaths from all cancers, respectively, than men and women at a normal weight (body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9). Body mass index is a measure of weight with respect to height.
The researchers estimated that, if the association is causal, excess weight could contribute to 14% of all cancer deaths in men and 20% of all cancer deaths in women in the United States. They concluded that 90,000 cancer-related deaths in the United States could be prevented each year if Americans could maintain a normal weight. However, they said, "it is unlikely that this goal can be achieved without concerted effort and substantial investment on the part of policymakers, educators, clinicians, employers, and schools to promote physical activity and healthful dietary practice as a cultural norm."
The study appears in the April 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
See also News, Vol. 93, No. 12, p. 901, "Obesity, Cancer Links Prompt New Recommendations."
ASCO Makes Recommendations on Research Oversight, Conflict of Interest Policies
Ethical oversight and review of cancer clinical trials should be centralized to reduce some of the burden on local institutional review boards (IRBs), according to a task force recommendation released last month by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
The task force was formed 3 years ago to look at the structure, expertise, and function of IRBs. The group was following up on concerns that IRBs have become overburdened as cancer clinical trials have grown larger and more demanding of the review board members’ time.
The ASCO task force called for centralized trial review, beginning with trials conducted through the cooperative group program. According to the task force, such a system would eliminate duplication of work by local IRBs in the initial ethical review stage, provide greater consistency of documents and protocol changes across trial sites, and improve patient safety through a global monitoring and reporting system.
The task force also revised ASCO’s conflict of interest policies. The updated policy requires researchers submitting abstracts or making presentations at the society’s annual meeting, authors submitting papers to the society’s journal, and anyone serving on its board or committees to disclose virtually all financial ties to entities having a commercial interest in the subject matter.
In addition, the new guidelines restrict people in a leadership role—such as principal investigators, members of a data safety monitoring board, and members of a trial’s executive committee—from receiving or holding stock or equity interest in the trial sponsor, royalties or licensing fees from the treatment under investigation, patents for the treatment, or other financial ties with the trial sponsor.
The new policies were published in the early online edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
See also News, Vol. 95, No. 9, p. 636, "Growing Pains: Central Review Board Project Still Developing," and Vol. 93, No. 12, p. 895, "Studies Prompt Closer Scrutiny of Conflict of Interest Policies."
New Report Outlines Strategies to Curb Rising Cancer Rates
The number of new cancer cases worldwide will increase sharply from 10 million in 2000 to 15 million by the year 2020, according to estimates in a new report from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The World Cancer Report cites an aging population, an increase in tobacco smoking, and the adoption of unhealthy lifestyles as primary causes of the increase. However, taking certain actions such as reducing tobacco smoking, improving diet and physical activity, and catching cancers early through screening and detection can prevent one-third, and cure another one-third, of cancers worldwide, the report noted.
The full report is available from the International Agency for Cancer Research at http://www.iarc.fr/WCR/
—Linda Wang
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||