PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Global warming could be driving up women’s cancer risk

A study on Middle Eastern countries links higher temperatures to an increased risk of breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancers

2025-05-27
(Press-News.org) Scientists have found that global warming in the Middle East and North Africa is making breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer more common and more deadly. The rise in rates is small but statistically significant, suggesting a notable increase in cancer risk and fatalities over time.  

“As temperatures rise, cancer mortality among women also rises — particularly for ovarian and breast cancers,” said Dr Wafa Abuelkheir Mataria of the American University in Cairo, first author of the article in Frontiers in Public Health. “Although the increases per degree of temperature rise are modest, their cumulative public health impact is substantial.” 

An unhealthy environment 

Climate change isn’t healthy. Rising temperatures, compromised food and water security, and poor air quality all increase the burden of disease and death worldwide. Natural disasters and the strain of unanticipated weather conditions also disrupt infrastructure, including healthcare systems. When it comes to cancer, that can mean people are more exposed to risk factors like environmental toxins and are less likely to receive a prompt diagnosis and treatment. This combination of factors could lead to a major rise in the incidence of serious cancers, but quantifying it is difficult. 

To investigate the effects of climate change on women’s cancer risk, the researchers selected a sample of 17 Middle Eastern and North African countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Palestine. These countries are seriously vulnerable to climate change and are already seeing striking temperature rises. The researchers collected data on the prevalence and mortality of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and uterine cancer, and compared this information with changing temperatures between 1998 and 2019.  

“Women are physiologically more vulnerable to climate-related health risks, particularly during pregnancy,” said co-author Dr Sungsoo Chun of the American University in Cairo. “This is compounded by inequalities that limit access to healthcare. Marginalized women face a multiplied risk because they are more exposed to environmental hazards and less able to access early screening and treatment services.” 

Running the numbers 

The prevalence of the different cancers rose by 173 to 280 cases per 100,000 people for every additional degree Celsius: ovarian cancer cases rose the most and breast cancer cases the least. Mortality rose by 171 to 332 deaths per 100,000 people for each degree of temperature rise, with the greatest rise in ovarian cancer and the smallest in cervical cancer.  

When the researchers broke this down by country, they found that cancer prevalence and deaths rose in only six countries — Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Syria. This could be due to particularly extreme summer temperatures in these countries, or other factors which the model couldn’t capture. The rise was not uniform between countries: for instance, the prevalence of breast cancer rose by 560 cases per 100,000 people for each degree Celsius in Qatar, but only 330 in Bahrain.  

Although this shows that increased ambient temperature is a probable risk factor for these cancers, it also suggests that temperature has a different effect in different countries — so there are likely to be other factors modifying risk. For instance, increased heat could be associated with higher levels of carcinogenic air pollution in some places.  

“Temperature rise likely acts through multiple pathways,” said Chun. “It increases exposure to known carcinogens, disrupts healthcare delivery, and may even influence biological processes at the cellular level. Together, these mechanisms could elevate cancer risk over time.” 

Risk factors 

Higher prevalence could also reflect improvements in cancer screening. However, better screening would be expected to result in fewer deaths, as early-stage cancer is easier to treat. But both death rates and prevalence rose, suggesting that the driving factor is exposure to risk factors.  

“This study cannot establish direct causality,” cautioned Mataria. “While we controlled for GDP per capita, other unmeasured factors could contribute. Nonetheless, the consistent associations observed across multiple countries and cancer types provide compelling grounds for further investigation.” 

This research also underlines the importance of considering climate-related risks in public health planning.  

“Strengthening cancer screening programs, building climate-resilient health systems, and reducing exposure to environmental carcinogens are key steps,” said Chun. “Without addressing these underlying vulnerabilities, the cancer burden linked to climate change will continue to grow.” 

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Few diffusers and many bottlenecks: the French labor market according to statistical physics

2025-05-27
How long have you been doing your current job? Have you ever thought about trying a new profession? How difficult does change seem to you? The current rapid transformation of the labor market is putting many workers to the test: they struggle to keep up and move into new roles, while at the same time companies are having difficulty finding qualified personnel. A new study has analyzed the French labor market using methods from statistical physics, and found that over 90% of jobs today function as bottlenecks: they are easily accessible, but once entered, they become traps from which ...

Integrating pharmacogenomic guided prescribing into routine clinical practice – promising results from the NHS PROGRESS study

2025-05-26
Milan, Italy: Pharmacogenomics studies how individuals respond to drugs based on their genetic code. Using that knowledge to guide prescribing in routine care could lead to better outcomes for patients and save money for health systems. Generating pharmacogenomic data in the laboratory is relatively straightforward, but a major challenge is making that information available to frontline healthcare professionals in a clinically relevant format and timeframe. This has meant that, to date, only a limited numbers of patients have been able to benefit from such individually optimised treatments. Dr John McDermott, ...

HHS panel recommend statins for adults with HIV at risk for cardiovascular disease

2025-05-26
Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 26 May 2025    Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, threads, and Linkedin         Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing ...

What birds can teach us about social learning

2025-05-26
How does a bird learn its birdsong? Tomoko Fujii and Masashi Tanaka, from Waseda University, explored what drives a zebra finch to approach and imitate other zebra finches to learn its birdsong in a new JNeurosci paper.  The researchers explored song learning in young male zebra finches as they interacted with “tutor” adults that already knew their birdsongs. Young zebra finches preferably approached tutors that sang longer but less frequently. Fujii and Tanaka next probed the role of a brain region traditionally linked to emotions in mammals (the amygdala) in this song-learning process. To examine the ...

Relationship between mutation profile detected by next-generation sequencing and histopathological parameters in lung squamous cell carcinoma

2025-05-26
Background and objectives Lung Squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) represents the second most common non-small cell lung cancer. Although studies identified adenocarcinoma-like driver mutations in LSCC using next-generation sequencing (NGS), the disease is challenging to treat due to the limited number of detectable mutations for targeted drug therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the mutation profiles of LSCC detected by NGS to assess the relationships between different driver mutations and clinicopathological parameters. Methods NGS ...

Megalodon: The broad diet of the megatooth shark

2025-05-26
FRANKFURT. Otodus megalodon was the largest predatory fish in Earth’s history: Measuring up to 24 meters, it was longer than a truck with a trailer and weighed almost twice as much. Embedded in its jaws were triangular teeth the size of a hand, and its bite had the force of an industrial hydraulic press. It swam through the world’s oceans between 20 and 3 million years ago, frequently on the hunt for prey to satisfy a calorie demand as vast as its size: According to estimates, it required around 100,000 kilocalories per day. Science widely assumed that megalodon’s main calorie intake was in the form of ...

Climate change driving sexual and reproductive health risks among young adolescents in Kenya

2025-05-26
Toronto, ON – Climate change and extreme weather events are threatening the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of young adolescents in Kenya, according to a new study published earlier this month in BMJ Global Health. The study reveals that food, water, and sanitation insecurities are placing young adolescents aged 10-14, especially girls, at increased risk of school dropout, transactional sex, gender-based violence, and early pregnancy. “Climate change isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s an urgent public health ...

No sex differences in autistic toddlers at time of first diagnosis, study finds

2025-05-26
Males are more than four times more likely to receive an autism diagnosis than females. But a new study by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine has found no clinical differences in autistic traits between the sexes in toddlers when they are first diagnosed with autism. The study was published in Nature Human Behavior on May 26, 2025. The findings have potential implications for early diagnosis and intervention for autistic children. Between 2002 and 2022, the researchers assessed more than 2,500 male and female toddlers between 12 and 48 months of age. Of these toddlers, 1,500 were ...

Enhance agricultural water management in the African Union

2025-05-26
Africa's predominantly rainfed agricultural sector is highly vulnerable to erratic rainfall and the impacts of climate change. Despite having significant irrigation potential, only a small fraction of Africa’s arable land is currently equipped for irrigation. A new policy brief by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) - Implementing the IDAWM Framework to Enhance Agricultural Water Management in the African Union – developed in collaboration with Centre on Climate Change & Planetary Health of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, International ...

New guideline focused on managing hypertension in primary care

2025-05-26
A new guideline to diagnose and treat hypertension is aimed at helping primary care clinicians, including family physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists, manage the disease. The new guideline, the first of 2 from Hypertension Canada, is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.241770, and will be republished with permission in Canadian Family Physician and Canadian Pharmacists Journal, with a summary in Canadian Nurse. Hypertension is the most common modifiable risk factor for heart disease and death, affecting about 1 in 4 adults in Canada. Canada has been a ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Perfumes and lotions disrupt how body protects itself from indoor air pollutants

Overlooked cells might explain the human brain’s huge storage capacity

Employees assigned more complex projects early in their work history had better outcomes later in their careers

Pioneering ADHD researcher reveals biological pathways linking genes to behavior

Mitochondrial DNA mutation accumulation may not be a determining factor in aging

Researchers unveil epigenetic mechanism of cold adaptation in rice

Hitting the right notes to play music by ear

ASH and ISTH publish revised clinical practice guidelines for pediatric venous thromboembolism

Space-to-ground infrared camouflage with radiative heat dissipation

High-speed binary phase-engraved superpixels improve complex light modulation

Herbal medicine for the mind: Traditionally used medicinal plants for memory loss from the Indian subcontinent

Study finds significant declines in maternal mental health across US

Characterizing long COVID symptoms during early childhood

Weight loss in midlife, chronic disease incidence, and all-cause mortality during extended follow-up

Patient-delivered continuous care for weight loss maintenance

HIV drug can improve vision in patients with common diabetes complication, clinical trial suggests

New fuel cell could enable electric aviation

New clinical practice guideline for the surgical management of chronic rhinosinusitis in adults

Newly discovered ‘molecular fingerprints’ could transform diabetes treatment and diagnosis

MicroRNA-124-3p and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in rat spinal cord injury: Inverse expression pattern

Oldest whale bone tools discovered

Germinated flours in breadmaking: Striking a balance between nutrition and quality

Timely initiation of statin therapy for diabetes shown to dramatically reduce risk of heart attack and stroke

University of Houston awarded $3M to launch cancer biomarker facility for immunotherapy research

Record-breaking performance in data security achieved with quantum mechanics

ASCO: MD Anderson’s Christopher Flowers honored for teaching and mentorship

Study: Emotional responses crucial to attitudes about self-driving cars

NCSA shapes students’ computing dreams

Can AI analogize?

AI aversion in social interactions

[Press-News.org] Global warming could be driving up women’s cancer risk
A study on Middle Eastern countries links higher temperatures to an increased risk of breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancers