Heart medications that target stress may help prolong survival in women with ovarian cancer
2015-08-24
(Press-News.org) A new analysis of patient records indicates that certain drugs taken to improve heart health may also have anti-cancer properties. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings indicate that additional studies are warranted to determine whether patients with cancer may benefit from adding beta blockers to their treatment regimen.
There is growing evidence that stress hormones can stimulate cancer to grow and spread. Beta blockers, which are drugs commonly used to treat hypertension and other heart-related conditions, affect the body's stress response and may therefore impact cancer progression. To investigate the potential for beta blockers to prolong cancer patients' survival, a team led by Anil Sood, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, retrospectively analyzed the 2000 to 2010 medical records of 1425 women who were treated at several different medical centers for ovarian cancer. The researchers noted that 193 of the women were taking beta blockers known as beta-1 adrenergic receptor (ADRB1) selective agents and 76 were receiving nonselective beta antagonists.
"We found that patients taking a broad, or nonselective, beta blocker were the ones who derived the most benefit compared with those who were not taking a beta blocker or those who were taking a beta-1-selective medication," said Dr. Sood. The median survival time was 47.8 months for patients receiving any beta blocker versus 42 months for non-users. Among those who took beta blockers, the median survival time was 94.9 months for those receiving nonselective beta blockers versus 38 months for those receiving ADRB1 selective agents. Patients with hypertension tended to have shorter survival times than patients without hypertension, but even among patients with hypertension, users of nonselective beta blockers had a longer median survival time than non-users (38.2 versus 90 months).
"Some of the prior studies have had conflicting data regarding the use of beta blockers and cancer patient outcomes. This may, in part, be since the type of beta blocker medication was not considered," said Dr. Sood. "To our knowledge, the current study is the first to examine the relationships with patient outcomes based on specific types of beta blockers."
In an accompanying editorial, Kristen Bunch, DO, of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and Christina Annunziata, MD, PhD, of the National Cancer Institute, noted that despite the small number of patients who were taking nonselective beta blockers in this study, the investigators uncovered a dramatic survival advantage that warrants further analysis. "This study lays the groundwork for insightful investigation into repurposing cardiovascular medications to cancer therapeutics," they wrote. They cautioned that beta blockers can cause significant side effects that could prevent their widespread use in patients with cancer, however. Therefore, stress reduction programs may represent a promising alternative.
INFORMATION:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-08-24
One in five older people who drink alcohol are consuming it at unsafe levels - over 21 units of alcohol for men and 14 units for women each week - according to a study by King's College London. The research in inner-city London, published in BMJ Open, found these unsafe older drinkers are more likely to be of higher socioeconomic status.
The researchers used anonymised electronic GP health records for 27,991 people aged 65 and over in the Borough of Lambeth in London. From these records, they identified 9,248 older people who had reported consuming alcohol and of these ...
2015-08-24
Amsterdam, NL, August 24, 2015 - Bedwetting, or nocturnal enuresis, causes distress in children and young adults, as well as for their parents or caregivers. The causes are not fully understood and there may be both physiological and psychological components to the condition. In a new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, researchers report that repetitive sacral root magnetic stimulation (rSMS) can reduce the frequency of nighttime bedwetting and improve quality-of-life for sufferers.
In a study conducted by researchers at the Assiut University Hospital, ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO-If men take up more of the child-care duties, splitting them equally with their female partners, heterosexual couples have more satisfaction with their relationships and their sex lives, according to new research by Georgia State University sociologists.
The research was presented Aug. 23 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
Daniel L. Carlson, along with graduate students Sarah Hanson and Andrea Fitzroy used data from more than 900 heterosexual couples' responses in the 2006 Marital Relationship Study (MARS).
The researchers found ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO -- African women in polygamous marriages or with alcoholic husbands have a significantly higher risk of being physically abused by their husbands than women in monogamous marriages or women whose husbands don't abuse alcohol, new research shows.
A trio of researchers pulled data from the Demographic Health Survey to look at intimate partner physical violence in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. The four countries have high rates of domestic violence. The researchers selected the countries based on the availability of timely data and to represent different regions ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO -- People who report having spiritual awareness have it vary throughout the day, rather than being constant, according to a study by University of Connecticut researchers.
The study, which will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA), found that people had the highest levels of spiritual awareness in the morning and while engaged in activities such as praying, worship, and meditation. Spiritual awareness also was high when people listened to music, read, or exercised. It was low while people were doing work-related ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO -- Despite having only about 5 percent of the world's population, the United States was the attack site for a disproportionate 31 percent of public mass shooters globally from 1966-2012, according to new research that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).
"The United States, Yemen, Switzerland, Finland, and Serbia are ranked as the Top 5 countries in firearms owned per capita, according to the 2007 Small Arms Survey, and my study found that all five are ranked in the Top 15 countries in public mass shooters ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO -- Heterosexual couples that split childcare duties have higher quality relationships and sex lives than those who don't, according to new research that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).
The study by Daniel L. Carlson, an assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State University (GSU), and GSU graduate students Sarah Hanson and Andrea Fitzroy, used data from 487 heterosexual couples in the 2006 Marital and Relationship Survey (MARS). The GSU researchers grouped the couples, all of whom had children, ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO -- When it comes to supporting working mothers, the United States' work-family welfare policies leave much to be desired, according to a comparative study of working mothers in multiple countries by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin.
"Work-family policies reflect and reinforce ideologies about gender: what men and women 'should' and 'shouldn't' do," said study author Caitlyn Collins, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at UT Austin. "Through policies, countries say something about their citizens and shape the opportunities available to them."
In ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO -- Same-sex couples encounter more obstacles to treatment for infertility than opposite-sex couples, suggests a new study that will be presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).
"For example, same-sex couples often must undergo psychological evaluations before being treated for infertility -- a process that is not normally required for opposite-sex couples," said study author Ann V. Bell, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Delaware, who noted that the U.S. medical system is standardized to work ...
2015-08-23
CHICAGO -- The explosion in worldwide coffee consumption in the past two decades has generally not benefitted farmers of coffee beans in poorer nations along the equator.
A University of Kansas (KU) researcher studying trade and globalization has found that the shift to "technified" coffee production in the 1970s and 1980s has created harsher economic and ecological consequences for heavy coffee-producing nations, such as Honduras, Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil, Vietnam and Ethiopia.
"Historically, coffee has been exploited by the West in various ways, because it's consumed ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Heart medications that target stress may help prolong survival in women with ovarian cancer
