Department of Surgery
With the surprise and tragic news that the actor Chadwick Boseman had passed away of colon cancer at age 43, there’s been a spotlight on the disease as people look for information and answers. While colon cancer is a disease that many people have heard of, they may not know a great deal about it. […]
Two years ago during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we posted over nine days excerpts from our, then, new book TOGETHER: Every Woman’s Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer. Each of the nine days focussed on a single practical step that could help lower the risk of the disease. With each of the steps still relevant and […]
In a recent New England Journal of Medicine Sounding Board article, Karen Emmons and Cancer News in Context’s Graham Colditz detailed the well-established health and economic benefits of disease prevention programs. One example they highlighted was the more than double return on investment (ROI) of dollars put towards a tobacco cessation program in Massachusetts. […]
Cancer News in Context’s Dr. Graham Colditz speaks with ecancertv at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 50th Anniversary Scientific Conference 2016 about the social and legislative surroundings of modern strategies in cancer prevention.
Photos from Friday’s very successful 2nd Rural Cancer Disparities Retreat at Washington University School of Medicine in collaboration with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. The P20 leadership team: from left: Sonya Izadi, WUSM project coordinator; Dr. Wiley Jenkins, SIU; Dr. Graham Colditz, WUSM; Dr. David Steward, SIU; Dr. Aimee James, WUSM; and Amanda Fogleman Dr. Graham […]
Cancer News in Context is excited to publish four posts this week on high-risk breast and ovarian cancer. These posts will provide insight for women (and their families) from Washington University School of Medicine physicians on unique aspects of high-risk disease — from genetic testing and treatment to prevention and risk management. July 11 […]
Cancer News in Context is excited to publish four posts this week on high-risk breast and ovarian cancer. These posts will provide insight for women (and their families) from Washington University School of Medicine physicians on unique aspects of high-risk disease — from genetic testing and treatment to prevention and risk management. July 11 […]
by Katy Henke For such an important issue, rural cancer disparities don’t often get their due attention. Yet, it is understood by researchers and rural community members alike that geographic location has an important affect on population health and preventative health interventions. For individuals living in rural, isolated areas, a lack of access to healthcare […]
Cancer News in Context is excited to publish four posts this week on high-risk breast and ovarian cancer. These posts will provide insight for women (and their families) from Washington University School of Medicine physicians on unique aspects of high-risk disease — from genetic testing and treatment to prevention and risk management. July 11 […]
Cancer News in Context is excited to publish four posts this week on high-risk breast and ovarian cancer. These posts will provide insight for women (and their families) from Washington University School of Medicine physicians on unique aspects of high-risk disease — from genetic testing and treatment to prevention and risk management. July 11 […]
By Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH In the British journal, The Lancet, this week Dr. Karen Emmons and I comment on an analysis of health insurance, cancer mortality and the impact of the great recession 1. This note expands slightly on our comment and adds focus on the Vice-President’s Moonshot options to improve access to cancer […]
Since January of 2000, our website, Your Disease Risk, has reached millions of visitors with personalized risk estimates and prevention messages for the most important preventable chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, and others. Based on feedback from both health professionals and the public, much of the appeal of the the Your Disease Risk […]
bPhoto: Melissa P by Hank Dart A federal report released at the end of July shows promising trends in rates of HPV vaccination in United States adolescents, but rates varied greatly between certain regions and left much room for improvement overall, especially for boys. The recommended schedule for HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination, which protects against […]
Results from a large analysis released yesterday further confirm that getting even small amounts of physical activity is better than getting none if your goal is to live longer. In the new paper, which combined results from nine cohort studies, researchers focussed on the possible mortality benefits of varying levels of physical activity in people […]
by Ashley Housten, OTD, OTR/L, MSCI, MPA The Siteman Cancer Center Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) hosted a Community Health Education Day in East St. Louis, Illinois on July 11, 2015. Partnering with the East Side Health District and other community organizations, community health workers, citizens, and cancer survivors came together to […]
In blunt terms: we’re larger than we’ve ever been. That’s the essential conclusion of new research published online yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine by CNiC’s Dr. Graham Colditz and Dr. Lin Yang. In the analysis, which looked at a nationally representative sample of Americans from 2007 – 2012, the authors found that 75 percent of […]
After posting a handful of excerpts over the past year, we’re excited to announce the official launch this week of the e-book: TOGETHER – Every Woman’s Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer. Written by CNiC’s Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH and Hank Dart, MS, along with noted Washington University School of Medicine researcher Katherine Weilbaecher, MD, TOGETHER takes a […]
It’s said that sitting is the new smoking. And while this is an exaggeration of sorts, there is certainly something to it. Sedentary lifestyles have been linked to heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and premature death. And like smoking, sitting too much has health risks even for those who are a healthy weight and who […]
by Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH In a recent detailed analysis of weight change across the life course (funded by our NCI TREC center addressing obesity and cancer), we reported that short-term weight gain, defined as change over a 4-year time frame, significantly increased risk of both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer (see report for […]
Media coverage this week draws attention to a well-known fact in epidemiologic research. A risk factor alone does not always identify the top stratum of risk for a disease. Kerlikowske and colleagues from the NCI-funded breast cancer surveillance consortium draw on prospective data to demonstrate for women that a mammographic report of dense breasts is […]
Cancer News in Context‘s own Graham Colditz received the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)–American Cancer Society Award today at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago (more info). The award honors contributions to cancer prevention and control. In his associated lecture, Colditz will focus on the need to place a higher priority on prevention if […]
I had the privilege of presenting in this thematic area for the Shanghai Forum and addressed the priority for prevention. This contrasted with a preceding talk that advocated for greater emphasis on genomic testing to focus prevention activities within the Chinese population. Using diabetes and breast cancer examples I contrasted the time course of disease […]
An excerpt from the upcoming e-book: The 8IGHT WAYS Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer (Colditz and Dart) What is Risk? What is Prevention? The word “risk” gets thrown around a lot these days. And that’s actually a great thing, particularly when it comes to breast cancer. By knowing your risk of breast cancer, and what […]
Photo: Flickr/ToastyTreat As we mentioned in a previous post on CNiC, an article in the New York Times last week called the link between diet and cancer risk, in essence, a “myth.” In that post, we note that “the article’s conclusions [about the links between diet and cancer] demonstrate a lack of understanding of the science.” To further make […]
With some exciting projects coming down the pike for our Zuum risk assessment app for iPad, it seemed a great time to re-introduce Zuum with a video demonstration of all that it does. Its engaging interface and strong evidence base make it a unique addition to the field of mHealth offerings. With just a 2 […]
by Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH Much attention is being placed today on the global burden of cancer and the power for prevention to have an enormous benefit for the world through reducing cancer incidence, diagnosis, treatment, pain, and suffering. A reminder on numbers that have been around for some time – more than half […]
The latest in the New York Times‘ Retro Report series tackles the launch and subsequent progress of the Nixon administration’s 1971 National Cancer Act, dubbed the “War on Cancer.” The ultimate hope of the act was that – with an economic and human power push similar to that used with the first moon landing in […]
Validation of breast cancer risk prediction models in an independent prospective data set is rare. We drew on prospective data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the California Teachers Study to validate the Rosner-Colditz breast cancer incidence model and compare it to the Gail model.1 (see report) The Rosner-Colditz model includes a range of established […]
To assess variation in the role of reproductive risk factors in relation to risk for breast cancer among premenopausal women we examined the relationship comparing women less than age 40 with older premenopausal women. Drawing on Data from the Nurses’ Health Studies, Dr. Warner and colleagues documented 374 incident cases of breast cancer diagnosed before […]
Breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death among women. In the US it is estimated that 40,000 women will die from breast cancer in 2013. Just over 232,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Importantly, nearly a quarter of these new cases are diagnosed among women who are less than 50 […]
–> Let’s follow up on our recent post showing adolescent diet high in vegetable protein or nuts was associated with reduced risk of premalignant breast lesions in young adult women. (see previous post: Peanuts and lower risk of breast cancer) This generated much interest and the potential of peanut butter to be of such major health […]
Media coverage today picked up on our paper published last week in breast cancer research and treatment (link). In that paper, we reported on the follow-up of women in the Growing Up Today’s Study. Over 9000 women were recruited to the study in 1996 when they were 9 to 15 years of age. The unique […]
Hot off the presses this morning are two important health-related releases from the US Preventive Services Task Force and the Cochrane Library. From the USPSTF are updated recommendations that highlight effective approaches that primary care providers can use to prevent tobacco use in youth. Because 90 percent of regular adult smokers begin smoking when they […]
Yesterday, we wrote about new lung cancer screening guidelines and the overarching health benefits of smoking cessation. In a strange twist, there is news today out of Washington state that uninsured Washingtonians will now have their access to the state’s Tobacco Quitline drastically cut. Quitlines (1-800-QUIT-NOW) offer valuable resources to smokers who want to quit […]
Yesterday, the US Preventive Services Task Force released a draft report recommending that older heavy smokers be screened annually for lung cancer using low-dose CT scans. These guidelines – which closely reflect recommendations released by the American Cancer Society in January and which we wrote about here – mark a major shift in views on screening […]
One thing is clear about New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, he doesn’t shy away from a good fight, especially if the health and well-being of citizens is at stake. Whether it’s getting food establishments to post calorie counts, cut back on trans fats, or limit the size of sugary sodas, he and his administration […]
A study published last month in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showing that people regularly underestimate the amount of calories contained in fast food meals garnered a good deal of media attention (paper) and remains a “most read” listing on the BMJ.com site. With good reason. While moves are being made to prominently list the calorie […]
A study published last month in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showing that people regularly underestimate the amount of calories contained in fast food meals garnered a good deal of media attention (paper) and remains a “most read” listing on the BMJ.com site. With good reason. While moves are being made to prominently list the calorie […]
Tracking the health news over the past few months, there’s been one very intriguing trend that has stood out to us here at CNiC: Grand Visions. Two examples of this that have huge implications for health are the push for eliminating extreme global poverty by 2030 and very serious discussions about moving toward an […]
In a time when school budgets are stressed and school performance is judged more and more on standardized test scores, it’s understandable that certain aspects of the school day that can seem less-critical get cut back or cut out altogether. Student physical activity and physical education has been one of those things slowly reduced over the […]
As we wrote about earlier this spring, the new “TIPS from a former smoker” campaign from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is gaining a lot of attention for its no-holds-barred effort to shock non-smokers into staying smoke-free and smokers into to quitting smoking – hopefully for good. One primary thrust of the […]
In a recent post about our newest addition to the 8IGHT WAYS® series (8IGHT WAYS to Prevent Colon Cancer), we also highlighted the latest cancer awareness campaign coming out of the Siteman Cancer Center featuring St. Louis Cardinals player Matt Holliday and his mom, who was recently diagnosed with, and treated, for colon cancer. The “Cancer […]
Australia is leading the world having implemented aggressive laws limiting tobacco advertising and packaging of cigarettes. These are reportedly some of the toughest restrictions to date. Publicly accessible images show the impact of the limited marketing. The Australian Department of Health and Aging web site shows package labels. Among the key elements of tobacco control […]
http://tinyurl.com/8WaysColon As part of the Siteman Cancer Center’s new colon cancer awareness campaign featuring St. Louis Cardinals player Matt Holliday and his mom who was recently diagnosed with the disease, we’ve just released the latest in the 8IGHT WAYS series: 8IGHT WAYS to Prevent Colon Cancer. The “Cancer Doesn’t Take a Holliday” campaign tells the compelling […]
A disturbing – but unfortunately unsurprising – story last week in the New York Times details the Wild West approach many online organizations take with people’s personal health information. With flimsy or no consent, data brokers profile individuals based on web searches and other online activities and sell this information to groups interested in using […]
www.yourdiseaserisk.wustl.edu Our award-winning risk assessment site – Your Disease Risk – launched this week with some key scientific and content updates. In addition to select risk factor modifications driven by a content review by our scientific advisory panel, we added a new assessment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which estimates the risk of chronic […]
Can preteen kids tan indoors? The surprising answer in Missouri is most often “yes,” found a new study that surveyed indoor tanning facilities in the state (study; media release). This infographic highlights that and other disturbing findings that paint an unattractive picture in one of 17 states nationwide that don’t regulate the practice of indoor […]