Frontline: Breast cancer recurrence; benefits from a daily walk; gender discrimination
Adding a Drug to Hormone Therapy Reduced the Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence
A new treatment approach that combines a drug with hormone therapy significantly increased the amount of time a person with stage 2 or 3 HR-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer can live without the cancer returning, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in March. Researchers showed that adding a drug called ribociclib to hormone therapy in the treatment of patients categorized as stage 2 or 3 HR-positive, HER2-negative resulted in a reduction in the recurrence of cancer by as much as 25 percent. This stage represents 70 to 75 percent of all breast cancer cases. Many patients with this type of breast cancer are treated with surgery, and in some cases with radiation and chemotherapy, followed by endocrine therapy for up to 10 years. While endocrine therapy improves chances of survival, there is still a risk of the cancer coming back years later after the initial diagnosis. The study supports ribociclib plus endocrine therapy as a new treatment option for a large population of breast cancer patients.
Even Sedentary People Accrue Health Benefits from a Daily Walk
Many studies have explored the association between daily walking and health. Scientists took this a step further in a study published in British Journal of Sports Medicine, in January. The study looked at the relationship between walking and being sedentary. They wanted to see if people who are sedentary for long stretches of time every day could still benefit from getting in their daily steps. The researchers tracked the physical activity of more than 70,000 people over seven years. The results indicate that it doesn’t matter whether people were frequently sedentary or not, as long as they got their daily steps in. They found that 10,000 steps a day was associated with the greatest reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and other deadly diseases, but as few as 4,500 daily steps was associated with reduced risk of deadly diseases as well.
Gender Discrimination Linked to Decline in Well-Being for Older Women
A study of more than 3,000 women ages 52 and over showed that one in 11 believed they had encountered gender discrimination, and those who did were more likely to report declines in well-being over time. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, in March. The researchers noted that older women who perceived discrimination based on their gender were more likely to be depressed and lonely than women who did not perceive sexism, and that they reported low levels of life satisfaction and a poor quality of life. These results held true even after accounting for other well-being-related factors, such as age, wealth, and physical activity. Some of the examples of perceived gender discrimination included being treated with less respect or courtesy, receiving poorer service than other people in restaurants and stores, and receiving poorer service or treatment than other people from doctors or in hospitals.
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