(Press-News.org) Diabetes mellitus (DM) appears to increase the risk for head and neck cancer (HNC). Evidence suggests certain cancers are more common in people with DM, but the risk of HNC in patients with DM has not been well explored. Overall, head and neck cancer is the sixth most common type of cancer. It accounts for about 6 percent of all cases and for an estimated 650,000 new cancer cases and 350,000 cancer deaths worldwide each year.
The authors used Taiwan's Longitudinal Health Insurance Research Database to examine the risk of HNC in patients with DM. The authors compared 89,089 patients newly diagnosed with diabetes and control patients without DM-related claims in 2011.
The incidence of HNC was 1.47 times higher in patients newly diagnosed with DM. In the group with diabetes, 634 patients had HNC (rate of 8.07 per 10,000 person-years) and, in the non-diabetes group, 447 patients had HNC (rate of 5.50 per 10,000 person years). HNC in the oral cavity had the highest incidence at 0.41 percent. The incidence in the oropharynx was 0.06 percent and 0.11 percent in the nasopharynx. HNC incidence also was higher in patients with DM who were 40 to 65 years old than among patients in the control group without DM who were the same age.
"Because we adequately controlled for the confounding factors, our findings disclose a higher incidence of HNC in patients with DM and highlight the importance of monitoring patients with DM for HNC."
INFORMATION:
Author: Kuo-Shu Tseng, Ph.D., of the Tainan University of Technology, Taiwan, and colleagues.
JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. Published online July 24, 2014. doi:10.1001/.jamaoto.2014.1258.
The study was supported by a grant from the Taipei Medical University and Chi Mei Medical Center Research Fund. Please see article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Increased risk for head, neck cancers in patients with diabetes
2014-07-25
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
8.2 percent of our DNA is 'functional'
2014-07-25
Only 8.2% of human DNA is likely to be doing something important – is 'functional' – say Oxford University researchers.
This figure is very different from one given in 2012, when some scientists involved in the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project stated that 80% of our genome has some biochemical function.
That claim has been controversial, with many in the field arguing that the biochemical definition of 'function' was too broad – that just because an activity on DNA occurs, it does not necessarily have a consequence; for functionality you need to demonstrate ...
Invertebrate numbers nearly halve as human population doubles
2014-07-25
Invertebrate numbers have decreased by 45% on average over a 35 year period in which the human population doubled, reports a study on the impact of humans on declining animal numbers. This decline matters because of the enormous benefits invertebrates such as insects, spiders, crustaceans, slugs and worms bring to our day-to-day lives, including pollination and pest control for crops, decomposition for nutrient cycling, water filtration and human health.
The study, published in Science and led by UCL, Stanford and UCSB, focused on the demise of invertebrates in particular, ...
Farmers market vouchers may boost produce consumption in low-income families
2014-07-25
Vouchers to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets increase the amount of produce in the diets of some families on food assistance, according to research led by NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
The study, which appears online in Food Policy, suggests that farmers market vouchers can be useful tools in improving access to healthy food. This finding validates a new program created by the Agricultural Act of 2014, or farm bill, that incentivizes low-income families to buy produce at farmers markets.
"In terms of healthy ...
Researchers discover new way to determine cancer risk of chemicals
2014-07-25
BOSTON -- A new study has shown that it is possible to predict long-term cancer risk from a chemical exposure by measuring the short-term effects of that same exposure. The findings, which currently appear in the journal PLOS ONE, will make it possible to develop simpler and cheaper tests to screen chemicals for their potential cancer causing risk.
Despite an overall decrease in incidence of and mortality from cancer, about 40 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with the disease in their lifetime, and around 20 percent will die of it. Currently fewer than two percent ...
Less than 1 percent of UK public research funding spent on antibiotic research in past 5 years
2014-07-25
Less than 1% of research funding awarded by public and charitable bodies to UK researchers in 2008 was awarded for research on antibiotics, according to new research published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The study, which is the first detailed assessment of public and charitable funding to UK researchers focusing on bacteriology and antibiotic research, suggests that present levels of funding for antibiotic research in the UK are inadequate, and will need to be urgently increased if the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance is to be tackled effectively by UK ...
Synchronization of North Atlantic, North Pacific preceded abrupt warming, end of ice age
2014-07-25
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Scientists have long been concerned that global warming may push Earth's climate system across a "tipping point," where rapid melting of ice and further warming may become irreversible -- a hotly debated scenario with an unclear picture of what this point of no return may look like.
A newly published study by researchers at Oregon State University probed the geologic past to understand mechanisms of abrupt climate change. The study pinpoints the emergence of synchronized climate variability in the North Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean a few ...
A world first: Researchers identify a treatment that prevents tumor metastasis
2014-07-25
Metastasis, the strategy adopted by tumor cells to transform into an aggressive form of cancer, are often associated with a gloomy prognosis. Managing to block the metastasis or, even better, prevent their formation would be a giant step towards the fight against cancer. Researchers at Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) successfully performed this world first on models of human tumors in mice. The results of their study are published online on 24 July in the prestigious journal Cell Reports.
The work by Professor Pierre Sonveaux's team, at Université catholique ...
Noise pollution impacts fish species differently
2014-07-25
Acoustic disturbance has different effects on different species of fish, according to a new study from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter which tested fish anti-predator behaviour.
Three-spined sticklebacks responded sooner to a flying seagull predator model when exposed to additional noise, whereas no effects were observed in European minnows.
Lead author Dr Irene Voellmy of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences said: "Noise levels in many aquatic environments have increased substantially during the last few decades, often due to increased shipping traffic. ...
Four-billion-year-old chemistry in cells today
2014-07-25
Parts of the primordial soup in which life arose have been maintained in our cells today according to scientists at the University of East Anglia.
Research published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry reveals how cells in plants, yeast and very likely also in animals still perform ancient reactions thought to have been responsible for the origin of life – some four billion years ago.
The primordial soup theory suggests that life began in a pond or ocean as a result of the combination of metals, gases from the atmosphere and some form of energy, such as a lightning ...
Corn and soy insecticides similar to nicotine found widespread in Midwest rivers -- USGS news
2014-07-25
Insecticides similar to nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, were found commonly in streams throughout the Midwest, according to a new USGS study. This is the first broad-scale investigation of neonicotinoid insecticides in the Midwestern United States and one of the first conducted within the United States.
Effective in killing a broad range of insect pests, use of neonicotinoid insecticides has dramatically increased over the last decade across the United States, particularly in the Midwest. The use of clothianidin, one of the chemicals studied, on corn in Iowa alone ...