© 2003 by Oxford University Press
© 2003 Oxford University Press
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In Brief
Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer Likely to Have Poor General Health
Nearly half of childhood cancer survivors experience at least one disease or treatment-related health problem during adulthood, according to data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.
Melissa M. Hudson, M.D., of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and her colleagues compared the health status of 9,535 long-term childhood cancer survivors with that of 2,916 randomly selected healthy siblings.
Cancer survivors were 2.5 times more likely to report poorer general health, 80% more likely to have poorer mental health, 2.7 times more likely to have activity limitations, and 5.2 times more likely to have functional impairment than the siblings. Being female, having a lower education level, and having less household income was associated with poorer health status. The study was published in the September 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In an accompanying editorial, Cindy L. Schwartz, M.D., of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, noted that few resources are available to provide adult survivors with long-term follow-up care. She encouraged more support for programs that focus on the effects of childhood cancer therapies. "Access to appropriate screening and counseling will mitigate the risks, and in the long run reduce the costs to the individuals and to society," she concluded.
See related story, p. 1506.
Low-Fat, High-Fiber Diet Not Associated With Risk for Breast Cancer
A low-fat, high-fiber diet does not appear to reduce hormone levels enough to contribute to a reduction in breast cancer risk, at least among premenopausal women, according to a new study.
Lower sex hormone levels are associated with a lower risk of breast cancer, and diet is believed to affect hormone levels. However, previous studies on diet and hormone levels have been too small to draw meaningful conclusions.
In the Diet and Hormone Study, Peter H. Gann, M.D., Sc.D., of Northwestern University in Chicago, and his colleagues examined the effect of ovarian hormone levels (e.g., estrogen and progesterone) on breast cancer risk among 213 healthy women between the ages of 20 and 40 who were randomly assigned to follow their usual diet or to adopt a low-fat, high-fiber diet for 12 menstrual cycles. The intervention group consumed no more than 20% of calories as fat, 25 g/day of fiber, and at least eight servings of fruits or vegetables per day.
After 1 year, serum estradiol levels decreased 7.5% in women following low-fat, high-fiber diets, compared with only 0.9% in women following their usual diets. However, the results were not statistically significant, and there was no difference in levels of other ovarian hormones between the two groups. Both diet groups lost roughly the same amount of weight.
The researchers conclude that a low-fat, high-fiber diet has at most a modest effect on circulating ovarian hormone levels. Details of the study appear in the November 1 issue of Cancer.
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