(Press-News.org) For women with Lynch syndrome, an association was found between the risk of endometrial cancer and the age of first menstrual cycle, having given birth, and hormonal contraceptive use, according to a study in the July 7 issue of JAMA. Lynch syndrome is a genetic condition that increases the risk for various cancers.
Endometrial cancer is the most common type of gynecologic cancer in developed countries. Between 2 percent and 5 percent of all endometrial cancer cases are associated with a hereditary susceptibility to cancer, mainly Lynch syndrome, which is caused by a germline mutation in one of the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Depending on the mutated gene, cumulative risk of developing endometrial cancer by age 70 years for women is thought to be between 15 percent and 30 percent. Apart from hysterectomy, there is no consensus recommendation for reducing endometrial cancer risk for women with an MMR gene mutation. Studies in the general population have shown that hormonal factors are associated with endometrial cancer risk, according to background information in the article.
For Lynch syndrome, the association between hormonal factors and endometrial cancer risk has not been clear. Aung Ko Win, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., M.P.H., of the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and colleagues conducted a study that included 1,128 women with an MMR gene mutation identified from the Colon Cancer Family Registry. Participants were recruited between 1997 and 2012 from centers across the United States, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Endometrial cancer was diagnosed in 133 women. The researchers found that later age at menarche (first menstrual cycle, age 13 or older), parity (has had one or more live births), and hormonal contraceptive use (for one year or longer) were associated with a lower risk of endometrial cancer. There was no statistically significant association between endometrial cancer and age at first and last live birth, age at menopause, and postmenopausal hormone use.
"In this study, an inverse association was observed between the risk of endometrial cancer for women with an MMR gene mutation and later age of menarche, increased parity, and use of hormonal contraceptives. The directions of the observed associations are similar to those that have been reported for the general population, suggesting a possible protective effect of these factors," the authors write.
"If replicated, these findings suggest that women with an MMR gene mutation may be counseled like the general population in regard to hormonal influences on endometrial cancer risk."
INFORMATION:
(doi:10.1001/jama.2015.6789; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Life expectancy for people with a history of both cardiovascular disease and diabetes is substantially lower than for people with just one condition or no disease, a new study harnessing the power of 'big data' has concluded.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed more than 135,000 deaths which occurred during prolonged follow-up of almost 1.2 million participants in population cohorts. They used this to provide estimates of reductions in life expectancy associated with a history of different combinations of diabetes, stroke, and/or myocardial infarction ...
Rejection of transplanted organs in hosts that were previously tolerant may not be permanent, report scientists from the University of Chicago. Using a mouse model of cardiac transplantation, they found that immune tolerance can spontaneously recover after an infection-triggered rejection event, and that hosts can accept subsequent transplants as soon as a week after. This process depends on regulatory T-cells, a component of the immune system that acts as a "brake" for other immune cells. The findings, published online in Nature Communications on July 7, support inducing ...
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A stroke happens in an instant. And many who survive one report that their brain never works like it once did. But new research shows that these problems with memory and thinking ability keep getting worse for years afterward - and happen faster than normal brain aging.
Stroke survivors also had a faster rate of developing cognitive impairment over the years after stroke compared to their pre-stroke rate. The study results are published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week.
"We found that stroke is associated with cognitive ...
The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games brought more than just athletes to B.C. It also left the province with a bad case of the measles.
In research outlined today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, scientists at the University of British Columbia and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control used genetic sequencing to trace the 2010 measles outbreak, linking it back to an influx of visitors during the Winter Olympics.
"In 2010, we had two visitors, probably from separate parts of the world, who each brought one genotype of measles with them," said lead author Jennifer Gardy, ...
HOUSTON - (July 7, 2015) - Companies that want to increase customers' loyalty and get their repeat business would do well to understand the nuanced ways in which and reasons why a customer is committed to that company, according to a recent study by marketing experts at Rice University and Fordham University. The research provides a strategic blueprint for developing customer commitment.
The researchers tested a customer-commitment model that has five dimensions -- affective, normative, economic, forced and habitual. They said previous research has used an "insufficient" ...
LAWRENCE -- A wide-ranging study of gains and losses of populations of bird species across Mexico in the 20th century shows shifts in temperature due to global climate change are the primary environmental influence on the distributions of bird species.
"Of all drivers examined ... only temperature change had significant impacts on avifaunal turnover; neither precipitation change nor human impacts on landscapes had significant effects," wrote the authors of the study, which appeared recently in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.
Using analytical techniques from ...
URBANA, Ill. - A recent study looked at marijuana and alcohol use in people between the ages of 18 and 24. It's probably not surprising that the results show a drastic increase in alcohol consumption in people just over 21; after all, that's the minimum legal age to drink. What University of Illinois economist Ben Crost found remarkable is that, at the same age, there was an equally dramatic drop in marijuana use.
"Alcohol appears to be a substitute for marijuana. This sudden decrease in the use of marijuana is because they suddenly have easy access to alcohol," Crost ...
ATLANTA--Structural brain abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia, providing insight into how the condition may develop and respond to treatment, have been identified in an internationally collaborative study led by a Georgia State University scientist.
Scientists at more than a dozen locations across the United States and Europe analyzed brain MRI scans from 2,028 schizophrenia patients and 2,540 healthy controls, assessed with standardized methods at 15 centers worldwide. The findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, help further the understanding of the mental ...
Researchers from the University of Houston found that some natural gas wells, compressor stations and processing plants in the Barnett Shale leak far more methane (CH4) than previously estimated, potentially offsetting the climate benefits of natural gas.
The study is one of 11 papers published in the July 7 edition of Environmental Science & Technology, all looking at fugitive methane emissions in the Barnett Shale. That region, site of the first widespread shale development in the United States, includes Dallas-Fort Worth and almost two dozen counties to the west ...
Effectiveness shown in tests on ovarian and bowel cancer
Drug can shut down a cancer cell's metabolism
Developed by researchers at the University of Warwick's Warwick Cancer Research Centre
Tests conducted by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute's Cancer Genome Project
New drug could be cheaper to produce and less harmful to healthy cells
Tests have shown that a new cancer drug, FY26, is 49 times more potent than the clinically used treatment Cisplatin.
Based on a compound of the rare precious metal osmium and developed by researchers at the University of Warwick's ...
