Melanoma May Return Years Later in Some

But study also found those patients were less likely to die than those with early recurrence

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- New research shows that melanoma can recur decades after initial treatment in roughly 9 percent of patients.

The findings show that people who have had melanoma require lifelong follow-up, the study authors said.

The investigators looked at over 4,700 melanoma patients and found that recurrence occurred in 408 patients who had been disease-free for 10 or more years. The recurrence rates were nearly 7 percent after 15 years and 11 percent after 25 years, according to the study in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

But the researchers also found that patients whose melanoma recurred 10 or more years later were less likely to die than those whose melanoma recurred within three years of treatment. Those with late recurrence were about 40 percent less likely to die of melanoma than those with early recurrence, and those with late recurrence also had a better overall survival rate.

Patients whose melanoma did not come back until at least 10 years after treatment were younger on average than those with early recurrence (age 41 versus 51).

Also, patients with a later recurrence tended to have had an original melanoma with less dangerous characteristics, the researchers noted. They also found that men accounted for 66 percent of patients with early recurrence, compared with 57 percent of those with late recurrence.

"For patients with melanoma, survival beyond 10 years without a recurrence has been considered nearly synonymous with a cure," lead investigator Dr. Mark Faries, a professor of surgery at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., said in a journal news release. "However, most studies do not follow-up patients longer than 10 years. Our study found that late melanoma recurrence is not rare and that it occurs more frequently in certain patient groups," he noted.

"It appears the risk of melanoma recurrence is never completely gone," Faries said. "One change that should result from our study is that people need to be followed-up for life with a physician after a diagnosis of melanoma," he pointed out.

"Fortunately, the vast majority of melanoma patients who remain disease-free longer than 10 years will not have a recurrence," Faries added. "However, patients should be aware that persistent or unexplained symptoms anywhere in the body might indicate a recurrence of their melanoma, and they should return to their physician to make sure the symptoms are not related."

Nearly 76,700 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society.

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Fitness in Middle Age May Help Shield Men From Cancer Later

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 16 (HealthDay News) -- Men who are physically fit in middle age have a lower risk of developing and dying from certain cancers, new research indicates.

"Fitness is a huge predictor of [cancer] risk," said Dr. Susan Lakoski, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Vermont, in Burlington. "You need to be fit to protect yourself against a cancer diagnosis in older age."

Men who were fit in their 40s, 50s and 60s were less likely decades later to get lung or colorectal cancer, she found. Those who were fit were also less likely to die from prostate, lung or colorectal cancers.

She is scheduled to present her research, supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, on June 2 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

While other studies have found physical activity protects against certain cancers, Lakoski said fewer studies have looked at the importance of fitness to predict whether men would develop or die from cancers.

For the study, Lakoski and her colleagues evaluated more than 17,000 men who had a single cardiovascular fitness assessment as part of a preventive health checkup at the Cooper Clinic, in Dallas, when they were 50, on average.

The men walked on a treadmill under a regimen of changing speed and incline. Their results were categorized into five groups, from lowest fitness level to highest.

Later on, the researchers analyzed Medicare claims data to identify the participants who had developed three common cancers among U.S. men -- lung, colorectal or prostate.

The average follow-up period was 20 to 25 years. During that time, 2,332 men developed prostate cancer, 276 developed colorectal cancer and 277 developed lung cancer.

During the follow up, 769 men died -- 347 of cancer, 159 of heart disease and 263 of other causes.

The men who were most fit on the treadmill test, when compared to the least, had a 68 percent lower risk of lung cancer and a 38 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer. Their prostate cancer risk didn't decline with increasing fitness, but the risk of death from it did.

Even a small improvement in fitness helped, the researchers found. For instance, a 50-year-old man who increased fitness so he could last three more minutes on the treadmill, Lakoski said, could reduce cancer death risk by 14 percent and heart disease death risk by 23 percent.

Low fitness levels increased the risk of cancer and heart disease even in men who weren't obese, the researchers found.

They also took into account other factors that could increase risk, such as age and smoking habits.

The good news, Lakoski said, is that, "You don't have to be highly fit to get protection." The most protection against cancer and heart disease was found in moving out of the least fit group.

And how unfit were those men? The men in the least fit group who were 40 to 49 when they took the test could walk on the treadmill less than 13.5 minutes. Those who were 50 to 59 lasted less than 11 minutes. Those 60 and older in the least fit group only lasted less than 7.5 minutes.

The findings make sense, said Colleen Doyle, director of nutrition and physical activity for the American Cancer Society.

"While you can't tell just how much activity these guys were doing over time, it makes sense that the most fit would have better cancer-related outcomes -- because they are likely the most active." While the new research did not find a link between fitness levels and a diagnosis of prostate cancer, a recent review of other published studies did show a modest reduction in that risk, Doyle said.

Lakoski can't explain the protective effects of fitness for sure, but can speculate. "We know that fitness modulates several important pathways also related to cancer risk," she said. These include, among other pathways, reducing inflammation and oxidative damage in the cells, she said.

Doyle agreed that many mechanisms are probably at work. Activity can improve immune function, for instance, and help control weight, and that in turn can decrease inflammation, she said.

To achieve cardiovascular fitness and reduce cancer risk, be moderately active 150 minutes a week or vigorously active for 75 minutes, or some combination, Doyle advised.

Because this study is being presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Lakoski found a link between fitness and cancer protection, not cause and effect. She also can't say whether the findings would apply to women. She hopes to study that next.

Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Susan Lakoski, M.D., assistant professor, internal medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington; Colleen Doyle, M.S., R.D., director, nutrition and physical activity, American Cancer Society; June 2, 2013, presentation, American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, Chicago

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Quicker Infant Growth Tied to Higher IQ Later

But difference in scores was fairly small in study of full-term babies

By Serena Gordon

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- Babies who gained weight and head circumference more rapidly during the first month of life scored slightly higher on intelligence tests when they were 6 years old, according to a large new study.

But a baby's early rate of growth didn't influence the child's behavior later in life, according to the study.

"We found that faster growth in the first four weeks following birth was linked to a small increase in intelligence quotient scores at 6.5 years, but there were no clear effects on children's behavior," said the study's lead author, Lisa Smithers, a postdoctoral research fellow in early life nutrition at the University of Adelaide, in Australia.

She added that these findings suggest that "it is important that parents seek help for any concerns they might have about their baby's growth or feeding quite quickly so that any problems can be addressed early."

"[However], we cannot say that faster growth causes a higher IQ," Smithers said. "It is possible that a phenomenon called 'reverse causality' may be at play, for example, if children with lower IQs had poorer growth."

The study results appeared online June 17 and in the July print issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The study included about 17,000 mothers and their babies from Belarus. Only mothers who delivered a single, healthy baby were included in the study. In addition, the babies were all born at or after 37 weeks of gestation.

Researchers measured the babies' weights and head circumferences over the first four weeks of life. Intelligence was measured using several IQ scales that were combined to yield a full-scale IQ score at 6.5 years. The full-scale IQ scores can range from 50 to 150, Smithers said, and the average score is 100. To assess behavior, parents and teachers completed behavior questionnaires.

Babies with the highest growth in weight and head circumference scored 1.5 points higher on the IQ scale compared to babies with the lowest growth. The researchers found no statistically significant differences in children's later behavior based on early growth.

"Our study involved thousands of healthy babies, so our findings reflect a wide range of growth patterns that might be expected within a healthy population," Smithers said.

Researchers accounted for other important factors, such as family income and parental education, in their analysis.

"The size of the effect we found on children's IQ would not be noticeable to individuals," Smithers said.

But the results may be important in the bigger picture, a U.S. expert said.

"A 1.5-point difference would be meaningless in an individual child and that child's success in life, but on a population level, such a difference may matter," said Dr. Lisa Thornton, medical director of pediatric rehabilitation at LaRabida Children's Hospital in Chicago.

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Teen Births May Increase Risk of Obesity Later in Life

FRIDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- Older women who had their first baby when they were teenagers are more likely to be obese than those who were not teen moms, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that 44 percent of women who had their first child when they were teens were obese, compared with 35 percent of those who had their first child at age 20 or later.

After adjusting for a number of factors, such as education level and race/ethnicity, the researchers determined that women who had their first child in their teens were 32 percent more likely to be obese in later adulthood than those who had their first child at age 20 or later.

The study findings were released online in advance of publication in the July print issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

"When clinicians care for teen mothers, we have so many immediate considerations -- child care, housing, school, social and financial support -- that we may fail to consider the long-term health effects of teen pregnancy," lead author Dr. Tammy Chang, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar at the University of Michigan, said in a foundation news release. "What we have found in our study is that teen childbirth carries a long-term risk of obesity."

The teen birth rate in the United States is one of the highest among industrialized countries. Teenagers account for one in every 11 deliveries in the nation, according to 2010 U.S. Census data.

"These findings indicate that we need to start considering the long-term health risks of teen childbirth, as well as short-term risks, in health and policy discussions about teen pregnancy," Chang said. "And now we know that long-term risks include obesity later in adulthood."

Although the study found an association between childbirth in the teen years and greater risk of obesity later in life, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, news release, April 15, 2013

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Haim perform on Later With Jools Holland

Man, we love Haim. Did we mention how much we love Haim? We love them. Alana's so cool, she didn't even bother to change from Coachella, taking to the stage on Later With Jools Holland the other night wearing barely-there denim shorts and a super-cool band T. Give us this group over your average sing-along girl band any day. 

COACHELLA COOL - ALL THE BEST CELEB PICS

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Low Testosterone Linked to Later Arthritis in Study

Hormonal changes could influence disease severity, researchers say

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 3 (HealthDay News) -- Men with low levels of the hormone testosterone may be at greater risk for rheumatoid arthritis, according to a new study.

Both men and women with rheumatoid arthritis have lower levels of testosterone in their blood than people without the disease. But it has not been known whether low testosterone levels are a cause or effect of rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis causes pain, swelling, stiffness and loss of joint function. Severe cases can last a lifetime.

In this study, Swedish researchers analyzed blood samples collected from 104 men who were later diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and 174 men of the same age who did not develop the disease. The average time between collection of the blood sample and a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis was just less than 13 years, but ranged from 1 to 28 years.

After taking into account known rheumatoid arthritis risk factors such as smoking and weight, the researchers found that men with lower testosterone levels were more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis. They did not, however, prove a cause-and-effect link between the two.

These men also had significantly higher levels of follicle stimulating hormone -- a chemical involved in sexual maturity and reproduction -- before they were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, according to the study, which was published online April 3 in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

The findings suggest that hormonal changes occur before rheumatoid arthritis develops and could influence disease severity, the researchers said in a journal news release.

Rheumatoid arthritis results from the immune system attacking the body's own tissues. Previous research suggests that testosterone may dampen the immune system, the researchers said.

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Overweight While Younger Ups Kidney Risk Later

Title: Overweight While Younger Ups Kidney Risk Later
Category: Health News
Created: 4/4/2013 6:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/5/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Women's Weight-Loss Surgery May Benefit Later Offspring

Study links procedure to genetic activity in children

By Randy Dotinga

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 28 (HealthDay News) -- Weight-loss operations in women could be a genetic bonus for the health of their future children, a new study suggests.

Researchers found differences in the activity of genes in children born to women after they'd had gastric bypass surgery compared to their siblings born before surgery. The changes suggest that the kids born after surgery, to thinner mothers, will fare better in terms of heart health because of benefits gained in the womb.

"It appears that there's an effect that is transmitted to the next generation," said study co-author Marie-Claude Vohl, a professor at Laval University in Quebec City. "This may have some consequence later in life for the health of the children."

The study isn't definitive, and researchers don't know exactly how much the health of kids may be affected by being born to a thinner mother. It's also not clear if there's something unique about weight-loss surgery or if the key is to simply drop pounds.

Weight-loss surgery, which aims to limit the amount of food that patients can eat, is no simple matter. It's expensive, involves risk and is not always covered by insurance. However, severe obesity is itself a major health risk.

In the new study, researchers examined the genetic makeup of 50 children who were born to 20 mothers before or after they underwent gastric bypass surgery.

The researchers suspected that the genes of children born after surgery would act differently than those born before. They found several thousand genes that did just that, and the differences in the post-surgery children suggest they're in better shape health-wise.

As far as physical differences, children born to mothers before weight-loss surgery weighed more and had greater waist and hip girth compared to the others. Children born to mothers after weight loss-surgery had better fasting insulin levels and lower blood pressure.

"It's more evidence that the benefits of gastric bypass surgery extend beyond the original aim of weight loss," said Dr. Francesco Rubino, a metabolic and bariatric surgeon with the Catholic University of Rome, who was not involved with the study. Other research has linked weight-loss surgery, in some cases, to major improvements in diabetes.

What's going on? It's not a matter of the mothers transferring different genes to the children based on whether they'd had surgery. Instead, weight-loss surgery seems to affect the activity of the genes in the children's bodies even outside the womb, he said.

Dr. Edward Phillips, vice chair of the department of surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in Los Angeles, said it's a mystery how that might happen.

"If you're a fetus, you're bathed in a bunch of chemicals and hormones," Phillips said. "But when you're out in the real world, why wouldn't your own genes go back to the basic set of what they were supposed to be?"

Could weight-loss surgery in fathers have a similar effect on their subsequent children? Researchers don't know. There are other questions too. Might the children born after their mothers had surgery be exposed to a different kind of environment than their older siblings, especially in regard to food? Could that affect how their genes act?

Phillips said those questions need to be answered. But, he said, this is still "an exciting early study" that opens the door toward greater understanding of genes and weight.

The study appeared online May 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More information

For more about gastric bypass surgery, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Childhood Depression May Be Tied to Later Heart Risk: Study

For these kids, obesity, smoking and inactivity more likely in adolescence, preliminary research shows

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- Teens who were depressed as children are more likely to be obese, to smoke and to be sedentary, a new study finds.

The findings suggest that depression during childhood can increase the risk of heart problems later in life, according to the researchers.

The study included more than 500 children who were followed from ages 9 to 16. There were three groups: those diagnosed with depression as children, their depression-free siblings and a control group of unrelated youngsters with no history of depression.

Twenty-two percent of the kids who were depressed at age 9 were obese at age 16, the study found. "Only 17 percent of their siblings were obese, and the obesity rate was 11 percent in the unrelated children who never had been depressed," study first author Robert Carney, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a university news release.

The researchers found similar patterns when they looked at smoking and physical activity.

"A third of those who were depressed as children had become daily smokers, compared to 13 percent of their nondepressed siblings and only 2.5 percent of the control group," Carney said.

Teens who had been depressed as children were the least physically active, their siblings were a bit more active and those in the control group were the most active, according to the study, which is scheduled for presentation Friday at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Miami. Although the study showed an association between childhood depression and obesity, smoking habits and inactivity later in life, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

These findings are cause for concern because "a number of recent studies have shown that when adolescents have these cardiac risk factors, they're much more likely to develop heart disease as adults and even to have a shorter lifespan," Carney said.

"Active smokers as adolescents are twice as likely to die by the age of 55 than nonsmokers, and we see similar risks with obesity, so finding this link between childhood depression and these risk factors suggests that we need to very closely monitor young people who have been depressed," he said.

Data and conclusions presented at meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

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Piling on Pounds When Younger May Lead to Enlarged Heart Later

Title: Piling on Pounds When Younger May Lead to Enlarged Heart Later
Category: Health News
Created: 3/7/2013 2:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/8/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Fetal Heart May Develop Later in Pregnancy Than Thought

Title: Fetal Heart May Develop Later in Pregnancy Than Thought
Category: Health News
Created: 2/21/2013 10:35:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 2/21/2013 12:00:00 AM

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High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy May Predict Later Ills, Study Says

Title: High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy May Predict Later Ills, Study Says
Category: Health News
Created: 2/11/2013 4:35:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 2/12/2013 12:00:00 AM

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