Serious Mental Illness Tied to Higher Cancer, Injury Risk: Studies

HealthDay – Fri, Jul 20, 2012 FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- People with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have a 2.6 times increased risk of developing cancer, a new study contends.

The findings raise questions about whether people with serious mental illness receive appropriate cancer screenings and preventive care to help them avoid cancer risk factors such as smoking, the researchers said.

"The increased risk is definitely there, but we're not entirely sure why," study leader Dr. Gail Daumit, an associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a Hopkins news release. "Are these people getting screened? Are they being treated? Something's going on."

The researchers analyzed data from more than 3,300 Maryland Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to determine how many of them were diagnosed with cancer between 1994 and 2004.

Compared to people in the general population, schizophrenia patients were more than 4.5 times more likely to develop lung cancer, 3.5 times more likely to develop colorectal cancer, and nearly three times more likely to develop breast cancer, the researchers found.

Patients with bipolar disorder had similarly increased risk for the three types of cancer, according to the study published in the July issue of the journal Psychiatric Services.

People with serious mental illness are more likely to smoke, which could explain their elevated risk for lung cancer, Daumit said.

She also noted that women with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are less likely to have children and that childbearing is believed to reduce breast cancer risk. In addition, some drugs used to treat mental illness can increase levels of the hormone prolactin, a factor that has been linked to breast cancer.

The increased risk of colorectal cancer could be due to lifestyle issues such as smoking, lack of exercise and a diet lacking fruits and vegetables, Daumit said.

While the study uncovered a link between mental illness and cancer risk, it did not prove that one causes the other.

In a separate study released last month, Daumit found that people with serious mental illness were nearly twice as likely to require emergency or inpatient department treatment for an injury than people in the general population, and were about 4.5 times more likely to die from their injuries.

The study was published online in the journal Injury Prevention.

About 5 percent of Americans have a serious mental illness and these people are known to have a two to three times increased risk of dying prematurely, Daumit noted.

More information

The National Alliance on Mental Illness has more about mental illness.

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Pills to prevent HIV raise many questions: studies

"A pharmacist shows anti-retroviral drugs in 2006 at the Mildmay Centre in Seguku, near Kampala, Uganda. Various trials examining the use of anti-retroviral drugs in healthy heterosexuals as a way to prevent HIV have shown drastically different results, research showed Wednesday. (AFP Photo/Stuart Price)" title

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Studies Show Value of AIDS Drugs as Prevention

HealthDay – 1 hr 3 mins ago WEDNESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have released the final results of two studies that suggest AIDS drugs can prevent exposed people in Africa from getting infected with HIV by their sexual partners. However, another study indicates that it's a tough job to convince African women who aren't at the highest risk to take preventive medications.

In the big picture, the studies show that "we have a new HIV-prevention strategy, one that's quite powerful but also depends on adherence," said Dr. Jared Baeten, an associate professor of global health at the University of Washington, in Seattle. "The next step is figuring out how to motivate people to take it."

The studies appeared online July 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The general findings of the studies have been previously released, but only now has the research become available in a medical journal after going through a peer-review process.

Two studies offer promising details about the potential for the drugs to prevent -- although not all the time -- the transmission of HIV to heterosexual men and women from their infected partners.

One study in Kenya and Uganda looked at heterosexual couples -- almost all married -- in which one person was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The uninfected partners were randomly assigned to take an inactive placebo or a once-daily dose of the drug tenofovir (Viread) or a tenofovir-emtricitabine combination (Truvada) for up to three years. Nearly 5,000 people completed the study.

Those who took Truvada had a 75 percent lower risk of becoming infected with HIV compared to those who received a placebo. The risk was 67 percent lower in those who took Viread compared to a placebo. Even in those who got the placebo, the overall risk of getting infected was low: 52 of 1,468, or a little more than 3 percent, did so.

Truvada treatment in the United States costs several thousand dollars a year, Baeten said, but the discounted price can be as cheap as 25 cents a day in Africa. The drug, which stops the AIDS virus from reproducing in people who are infected, appears to do the same thing in uninfected people who are exposed to the virus, he said. In their cases, the virus doesn't already have a foothold in the body so it dies off.

In this study, 10 percent or less of those who took the drugs reported side effects such as fatigue, diarrhea and nausea, and only in the first month.

The second study of 1,219 HIV-negative adults in Botswana looked at Truvada versus a placebo. Comparing the 33 participants who became infected during the trial -- nine people in the drug group and 24 people on a placebo -- the study found those who took Truvada were 62 percent less likely to become infected with HIV.

In this study, significant loss of bone mineral density was a side effect for participants receiving the drug, compared to those on a placebo.

Another study, in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, assigned 2,120 women at higher risk of HIV infection to receive Truvada or a placebo. However, there wasn't much difference in HIV infection rates between the two groups -- about 5 percent in both became infected.

Baeten explained the finding, saying many women stopped taking the drug, which prevented an accurate assessment of its effectiveness.

The next step in research into the use of the drugs to prevent infection is to "figure out how to make them work in the real world, outside of an intensive research setting," Baeten said. In the United States, for example, researchers are studying their use in gay men who are at high risk for infection.

As for condoms, another major player in HIV prevention, Baeten said the prevention drugs will add to their level of security or provide some protection in cases where people can't use condoms.

In an editorial accompanying the studies, two experts stressed that medications should never be viewed as a substitute for the condom.

"Although no evidence of increased risky sexual behavior or decreased condom usage was reported in these studies, we must ensure that pre-exposure prophylaxis does not indirectly encourage such behavior," wrote Dr. Myron Cohen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Lindsey Baden of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.

They added that more research is needed to properly assess who stands to benefit most from these drug regimens, the best timing and dosage, as well as any potential side effects from long-term use.

More information

For more about AIDS, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Studies Show Value of AIDS Drugs as Prevention

HealthDay – 1 hr 2 mins ago WEDNESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have released the final results of two studies that suggest AIDS drugs can prevent exposed people in Africa from getting infected with HIV by their sexual partners. However, another study indicates that it's a tough job to convince African women who aren't at the highest risk to take preventive medications.

In the big picture, the studies show that "we have a new HIV-prevention strategy, one that's quite powerful but also depends on adherence," said Dr. Jared Baeten, an associate professor of global health at the University of Washington, in Seattle. "The next step is figuring out how to motivate people to take it."

The studies appeared online July 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The general findings of the studies have been previously released, but only now has the research become available in a medical journal after going through a peer-review process.

Two studies offer promising details about the potential for the drugs to prevent -- although not all the time -- the transmission of HIV to heterosexual men and women from their infected partners.

One study in Kenya and Uganda looked at heterosexual couples -- almost all married -- in which one person was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The uninfected partners were randomly assigned to take an inactive placebo or a once-daily dose of the drug tenofovir (Viread) or a tenofovir-emtricitabine combination (Truvada) for up to three years. Nearly 5,000 people completed the study.

Those who took Truvada had a 75 percent lower risk of becoming infected with HIV compared to those who received a placebo. The risk was 67 percent lower in those who took Viread compared to a placebo. Even in those who got the placebo, the overall risk of getting infected was low: 52 of 1,468, or a little more than 3 percent, did so.

Truvada treatment in the United States costs several thousand dollars a year, Baeten said, but the discounted price can be as cheap as 25 cents a day in Africa. The drug, which stops the AIDS virus from reproducing in people who are infected, appears to do the same thing in uninfected people who are exposed to the virus, he said. In their cases, the virus doesn't already have a foothold in the body so it dies off.

In this study, 10 percent or less of those who took the drugs reported side effects such as fatigue, diarrhea and nausea, and only in the first month.

The second study of 1,219 HIV-negative adults in Botswana looked at Truvada versus a placebo. Comparing the 33 participants who became infected during the trial -- nine people in the drug group and 24 people on a placebo -- the study found those who took Truvada were 62 percent less likely to become infected with HIV.

In this study, significant loss of bone mineral density was a side effect for participants receiving the drug, compared to those on a placebo.

Another study, in Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania, assigned 2,120 women at higher risk of HIV infection to receive Truvada or a placebo. However, there wasn't much difference in HIV infection rates between the two groups -- about 5 percent in both became infected.

Baeten explained the finding, saying many women stopped taking the drug, which prevented an accurate assessment of its effectiveness.

The next step in research into the use of the drugs to prevent infection is to "figure out how to make them work in the real world, outside of an intensive research setting," Baeten said. In the United States, for example, researchers are studying their use in gay men who are at high risk for infection.

As for condoms, another major player in HIV prevention, Baeten said the prevention drugs will add to their level of security or provide some protection in cases where people can't use condoms.

In an editorial accompanying the studies, two experts stressed that medications should never be viewed as a substitute for the condom.

"Although no evidence of increased risky sexual behavior or decreased condom usage was reported in these studies, we must ensure that pre-exposure prophylaxis does not indirectly encourage such behavior," wrote Dr. Myron Cohen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Lindsey Baden of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.

They added that more research is needed to properly assess who stands to benefit most from these drug regimens, the best timing and dosage, as well as any potential side effects from long-term use.

More information

For more about AIDS, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

View the Original article

Pills to prevent HIV raise many questions: studies

"A pharmacist shows anti-retroviral drugs in 2006 at the Mildmay Centre in Seguku, near Kampala, Uganda. Various trials examining the use of anti-retroviral drugs in healthy heterosexuals as a way to prevent HIV have shown drastically different results, research showed Wednesday. (AFP Photo/Stuart Price)" title

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Gene Studies Support 'Queen of Sheba' Legend

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Pfizer's Lyrica falls short in two pain studies

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UCSD studies HIV prevention drug

The new one will enroll only men who have sex with men and transgender women who are at higher risk for HIV because they have multiple partners.

The study will use Truvada, a two-drug pill made by Gilead Sciences and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004 to treat people with HIV. The company, which has applied for FDA approval to market it for HIV prevention, is providing the drug for free.

Study participants also will get counseling on reducing their risk for HIV.

Each of the three study teams will investigate slightly different areas.

UC San Diego will partner with San Diego County, Los Angeles County, the University of Southern California and the Long Beach health department to enroll 400 high-risk participants to get daily doses of Truvada.

All 400 will get regular counseling and health assessments; half also will get a daily text message reminder to take the pill.

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U.S. Advisers Say It's Now Safe to Publish Bird Flu Studies

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US experts give nod to publish mutant bird flu studies

"Pigeons are seen eating on a street in Hong Kong in January 2012. A panel of US science and security experts on Friday said two papers on a mutant bird flu should be published after all, reversing its earlier decision to withhold key details. (AFP Photo/Aaron Tam)" title

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Panel backs sharing studies of lab-made bird flu

The U.S. government's biosecurity advisers said Friday they support publishing research studies showing how scientists made new easy-to-spread forms of bird flu because the studies, now revised, don't reveal details bioterrorists could use.

The decision could end a debate that began in December when the government took the unprecedented step of asking the scientists not to publicize all the details of their work.

The research, by two scientific teams

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Surgery better for diabetes in the obese: studies

"File photo. Two clinical studies suggest that gastric surgery is better than traditional methods of care when it comes to controlling diabetes in overweight and obese patients (AFP Photo/Jeff Haynes)" title

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