Frontline: Worsening MS Symptoms; HER2-Positive Breast Cancer; Stable Weight and Longer Life
Multiple Health Conditions Linked to Worsening MS Symptoms
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have three or more other health conditions are more likely to experience MS disease activity, including worsened disability, relapses, or new lesions seen on MRI, according to a study published in the September issue of the journal JAMA Neurology. Conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, and heart disease were linked to higher risks. The research analyzed data from 16,794 MS patients across 17 clinical trials. MS is two to three times more common in women than men, and two-thirds of the study participants were women. Researchers highlighted that people with severe comorbidities are often excluded from clinical trials, suggesting that the real-world impact of comorbidities on MS patients may be even greater. They emphasized the need for better prevention and management of comorbidities in MS care, noting that the conditions play a critical role in determining patient outcomes.
New Drug Can Extend Lives of People with HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
A new drug, trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), has shown promising results in treating advanced HER2-positive breast cancer that has spread to the brain, according to findings from the DESTINY-Breast12 study, which were published in September in the journal Nature Medicine. The research included over 500 patients with and without brain metastases, from 78 cancer centers in Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and the United States. The results showed that on average, patients—including those with brain metastases—survived over 17 months without any progression of the cancer. More than 60 percent of patients survived 12 months without further tumor growth. The researchers detected regression of the brain metastases in over 70 percent of participants, and 90 percent of all patients were alive one year after the start of treatment. These findings offer hope for better treatment options for HER2-positive breast cancer patients, who typically face poor prognosis once the cancer spreads to the brain.
Stable Weight Linked to Longer Life in Older Women
Older women who maintain a stable body weight after the age of 60 are more likely to live into their 90s than women who experience significant weight loss as they age, according to a study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences in August. Using data from a women’s health study of 54,437 postmenopausal women between the ages of 61 and 81, researchers found that about 56 percent of the participants survived to the age of 90 or beyond. The data revealed that women who sustained a stable weight were 1.2 to two times more likely to achieve exceptional longevity—or living to the ages of 90 to 100—compared with those who experienced a weight loss of 5 percent or more. In particular, women who experienced unintentional weight loss were 51 percent less likely to survive to the age of 90. The researchers noted that if aging women find themselves losing weight when they are not trying to lose weight, this could be a warning sign of ill health and a predictor of decreased longevity
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