Black Women More Likely to Die from Breast Cancer
A recent study confirms racial disparities in breast cancer survival. For the study, researchers from Mass General Brigham looked at 228,885 women with breast cancer, 34,262 of whom were Black. The analysis (Journal of Clinical Oncology, Sept. 17, 2024) showed that Black women were 17 percent to 50 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, depending on the breast cancer subtype. Specifically, cancers fueled by estrogen were 34 percent to 50 percent more likely to kill Black women than their white counterparts, while cancers that do not respond to hormones were 17 percent to 20 percent more likely to kill Black women compared with white women. The findings may reflect disparities in access to quality health care—while many advances have been made in treating breast cancer, Black women may be less likely to have access to these advances. If you are at risk for breast cancer, ask your doctor what you can do to help prevent it.
Quit Smoking Tobacco to Help Lower Your A-Fib Risk
There is substantial evidence that smoking tobacco raises the risk of atrial fibrillation (A-fib), an abnormal heart rhythm that increases the risk of stroke. New research (JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology, Sept. 11, 2024) suggests that quitting tobacco can significantly lower that risk. University of California-San Francisco researchers analyzed data on more than 146,700 current and former smokers whose smoking habits and health outcomes were tracked for about 12 years. The analysis showed that former tobacco smokers had around a 13 percent lower risk of A-fib than people who were still smoking. Surprisingly, people who quit smoking tobacco during the study period had an 18 percent lower risk of A-fib than people who continued smoking, showing a significantly lower risk than former smokers. The team suggests this likely is a testament to the potency of reducing A-fib risk shortly after quitting. Study limitations include the possibility of recall bias in self-reported smoking status and unmeasured factors that may have influenced the results, such as lifestyle.
A Win for Weekend Warriors
People who squeeze all of their exercise into the weekend benefit nearly as much from their efforts as people who exercise every day, according to a recent study (Circulation, Sept. 26, 2024). Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital looked at data from nearly 90,000 people who wore wrist devices that recorded their total physical activity during one week. The participants were categorized as weekend warriors, steady exercisers, or inactive, based on whether and how they got their recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise. Both the weekend warrior and steady physical activity patterns were associated with substantially lower risks of 264 diseases, compared with inactivity. Weekend warriors lowered their risk of high blood pressure by 23 percent and diabetes by 43 percent, similar to the risk reductions of 28 percent and 46 percent in regular exercisers.
Hearing Loss and Dementia
A study published in JAMA Network Open, Oct. 1, 2024, examined the association between hearing loss and the risk of dementia in older age. A team from France’s Université Paris Cité looked at data from more than 62,000 people, average age 57, who took both hearing and cognitive tests. Overall, 38 percent had mild hearing loss, 10 percent had disabling hearing loss, and 3 percent reported using hearing aids. The data showed that 27 percent of study participants with mild hearing loss and 37 percent with disabling hearing loss had cognitive scores indicative of cognitive impairment, compared with 16 percent of people whose hearing was normal. The odds of cognitive impairment did not differ significantly between all study participants who used hearing aids and those with disabling hearing loss who did not use hearing aids. However, the study was unable to determine whether hearing aid use mitigated any loss of cognitive ability.
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