Glasgow, UK: The global burden of breast cancer remains immense in 2013, with over 1.6million new cases being diagnosed annually. This burden has been increasing at a rate of 3.1% per year, and while the majority of new cases are diagnosed among women in developed countries, the 450,000 deaths per year from the disease are […]
Radiotherapy after mastectomy benefits women with breast cancer that has spread to just a few lymph nodes
Glasgow, UK: Women whose breast cancer has spread to just a few lymph nodes under their arm are less likely to have their disease recur or to die from it if they have radiotherapy after mastectomy, according to new research presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-9) and published in The Lancet. [1] Dr […]
Genetic testing may improve selection of women with ER+ breast cancer for ten rather than five years of hormonal therapy
Glasgow, UK: Genetic analyses of results from 1125 postmenopausal women being treated for oestrogen responsive breast cancer have shown that some of them are more likely than others to have a late recurrence of their cancer and might benefit from ten years of hormone therapy rather than five. Prof Mitch Dowsett told the opening press […]
Passive smoking causes irreversible damage to children’s arteries
Exposure to passive smoking in childhood causes irreversible damage to the structure of children’s arteries, according to a study published online in the European Heart Journal [1]. The thickening of the arteries’ walls associated with being exposed to parents’ smoke, means that these children will be at greater risk of heart attacks and strokes in […]
Outbursts of anger linked to greater risk of heart attacks and strokes
Outbursts of anger may trigger heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems in the two hours immediately afterwards, according to the first study to systematically evaluate previous research into the link between the extreme emotion and all cardiovascular outcomes. The study – a systematic review and meta-analysis – published online in the European Heart Journal […]
Fit teenagers are less likely to have heart attacks in later life
Researchers in Sweden have found an association between a person’s fitness as a teenager and their risk of heart attack in later life. In a study of nearly 750,000 men, they found that the more aerobically fit men were in late adolescence, the less likely they were to have a heart attack 30 or 40 […]
Warfarin increases risk of stroke among atrial fibrillation patients in first 30 days of use
Patients with atrial fibrillation – an irregular and often abnormally fast heartbeat – have nearly double the risk of suffering a stroke in the first 30 days after starting to take the anti-clotting drug warfarin compared to non-users, according to a study of over 70,000 patients. The study, published online in the European Heart Journal […]
Freezing semen doubles the chances of fatherhood for men after treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma
Men with Hodgkin lymphoma who want to become fathers after their cancer treatment have greatly increased chances of doing so if they have frozen and stored semen samples beforehand, according to research published online in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1]. In the first study to investigate the impact on fatherhood of freezing […]
Delivery rates are unaffected by a policy of transferring fewer embryos coupled with reimbursing six cycles of fertility treatment
Research from Belgium has shown that if governments legislate to restrict the numbers of embryos transferred during fertility treatment, but combine it with a policy of reimbursing six cycles of assisted reproduction technology (ART), there is no detrimental impact on pregnancy and delivery rates. However, there is a greatly reduced risk of multiple births, which […]
Casual employment is linked to women being childless by the age of 35
Women who have worked in temporary jobs are less likely to have had their first child by the age of 35, according to research published online in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction [1]. The study shows that the longer women spent in casual employment, the more likely they were to be childless when […]