(Press-News.org) COLUMBIA, Mo. – This year, more than 230,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and nearly 40,000 women will not survive their battle with cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. New research from the University of Missouri shows that certain factors, including marital status, having children in the home, income level and age, affect the likelihood of depression in breast cancer survivors. Further, depressed patients are less likely to adhere to medication regimens, potentially complicating the progress of their treatment.
Ann Bettencourt, professor of psychological sciences at MU, studied who is most likely to experience distress following breast cancer diagnosis and when depressive symptoms tend to occur throughout the course of treatment. Bettencourt found evidence that single women and women with children in the home were more likely to be depressed during the year following treatment.
"Many women receive strong support following their initial diagnoses of and treatment for cancer, but then the social support can wane," Bettencourt said. "Our findings suggest that both single women and mothers with children in the home may need additional support across the entire year following breast cancer diagnosis and treatment."
The research also links depression levels with income and age. Women with different incomes tend to have similar levels of elevated depression during treatment, but those symptoms decrease among women with higher incomes in the year following treatment. Younger breast cancer survivors experience more depression during treatment than older patients, but report levels similar to those of older women after treatment is complete.
Bettencourt says identifying risk factors for depression among breast cancer patients is an important part of a woman's prognosis. In a separate study, she links depression with both intentions to adhere to treatment plans and lack of adherence to medication regimens. The research shows that more depressed breast cancer survivors have less favorable attitudes toward and perceptions of treatment regimens and thus are less likely to adhere to them.
"Depression can interfere with patients' willingness to adhere to medication regimens," Bettencourt said. "Deviating from the prescribed course of treatment may complicate patient outcomes and threaten prognosis."
###The studies, "Predictors of Depressive Symptoms Among Breast Cancer Patients During the First Year Post Diagnosis," and "Depression and Medication Adherence Among Breast Cancer Survivors: Bridging the Gap with the Theory of Planned Behavior," were published in Psychology and Health.
MU studies link depression and breast cancer outcomes
2011-11-03
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Watching the birth of an iceberg
2011-11-03
PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE – After discovering an emerging crack that cuts across the floating ice shelf of Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica, NASA's Operation IceBridge has flown a follow-up mission and made the first-ever detailed airborne measurements of a major iceberg calving in progress.
NASA's Operation Ice Bridge, the largest airborne survey of Earth's polar ice ever flown, is in the midst of its third field campaign from Punta Arenas, Chile. The six-year mission will yield an unprecedented three-dimensional view of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, ice shelves and sea ...
Study shows new medication effectively treats underlying cause of cystic fibrosis
2011-11-03
SEATTLE -- A new study has confirmed that the drug, ivacaftor (VX-770), significantly improves lung function in some people with cystic fibrosis (CF). The results of the phase III clinical trial study, "A CFTR Potentiator in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis and the G551D Mutation," led by Bonnie W. Ramsey, MD of Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Ivacaftor, also known as VX-770, was developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals with financial support from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. ...
Scientists prevent cerebral palsy-like brain damage in mice
2011-11-03
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that a protein may help prevent the kind of brain damage that occurs in babies with cerebral palsy.
Using a mouse model that mimics the devastating condition in newborns, the researchers found that high levels of the protective protein, Nmnat1, substantially reduce damage that develops when the brain is deprived of oxygen and blood flow. The finding offers a potential new strategy for treating cerebral palsy as well as strokes, and perhaps Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other
neurodegenerative ...
TRMM Satellite sees Tropical Storm Keila form in the Arabian Sea
2011-11-03
The TRMM satellite passed directly above a recently formed tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea on November 2, 2011 at 0350 UTC (11:50 p.m. EDT, Nov. 1). An analysis of rainfall was done using TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments. TRMM data showed that rainfall rates with tropical storm Keila ranged from light to moderate along the south-eastern coast of Oman. Moderate to heavy rainfall was revealed to be spiraling into Keila's center of circulation in the Arabian Sea near the southeastern coast of Oman.
TRMM Precipitation Radar data was ...
Nicotine primes brain for cocaine use: Molecular basis of gateway sequence of drug use
2011-11-03
Cigarettes and alcohol serve as gateway drugs, which people use before progressing to the use of marijuana and then to cocaine and other illicit substances; this progression is called the "gateway sequence" of drug use. An article in Science Translational Medicine by Amir Levine, MD, Denise Kandel, PhD; Eric Kandel, MD; and colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center provides the first molecular explanation for the gateway sequence. They show that nicotine causes specific changes in the brain that make it more vulnerable to cocaine addiction -- a discovery made by ...
GSA Bulletin Highlights: New research posted ahead of print
2011-11-03
Boulder, CO, USA - Highlights for GSA Bulletin articles published ahead of print between 30 Sept. and 21 Oct. 2011 are provided below. Studies include U-Pb geochronology and major and trace element geochemistry in the Andes; wide-angle reflections generated by five controlled blasts and over 110 timed quarry blasts in the Appalachians; cosmogenic isotope burial dating in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa; and SHRIMP analysis of zircons in Redoubt Volcano, Alaska.
GSA BULLETIN articles published ahead of print can be accessed online at http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/early/recent. ...
New Surgery for Migraine Cure Now Offered in Metro Atlanta
2011-11-03
Plastic Surgery of Gwinnett, PC announces they are now offering surgical treatments for migraine headaches. Techniques initially developed at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland are now brought to the Atlanta area for the treatment of medication resistant intractable migraines.
18% of the population suffers from debilitating migraines headaches, 2/3 of them women. Standard medical treatment fails to provide relief in a high percentage of patients. With the discovery that cosmetic Botox was an effective treatment, the nerve compression causes of migraine was ...
Reprogramming stem cells to a more basic form results in more effective transplant, study shows
2011-11-03
Durham, NC November 2011 Chinese stem cell scientists have published new research that improves the survival and effectiveness of transplanted stem cells. The research led by Dr Hsiao Chang Chan, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is published in Stem Cells.
Research into differentiation has led to a variety of breakthroughs as stem cell researchers harvest cells from one part of the body and genetically adapt them to fulfill a specialized role. However, if the implanted cells are too much like the cells of the targeted area they may not have the plasticity to ...
Low vitamin D common in spine surgery patients
2011-11-03
A new study indicates that many patients undergoing spine surgery have low levels of vitamin D, which may delay their recovery.
In a study of 313 patients undergoing spinal fusion surgery, orthopaedic surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that more than half had inadequate levels of vitamin D, including one-fourth who were more severely deficient.
The researchers report their findings today at the 26th Annual Meeting of the North American Spine Society. The study was chosen as one of the meeting's best papers.
"Our findings suggest ...
Plutonium's unusual interactions with clay may minimize leakage of nuclear waste
2011-11-03
As a first line of defense, steel barrels buried deep underground are designed to keep dangerous plutonium waste from seeping into the soil and surrounding bedrock, and, eventually, contaminating the groundwater. But after several thousand years, those barrels will naturally begin to disintegrate due to corrosion. A team of scientists at Argonne National Lab (ANL) in Argonne, Ill., has determined what may happen to this toxic waste once its container disappears.
"We want to be sure that nuclides (like plutonium) stay where we put them," says Moritz Schmidt, an ANL post-doctoral ...