Health Rounds: Breast cancer is becoming less deadly for younger women, US study finds
Young U.S. women with breast cancer are not dying from the disease as often as a decade ago, researchers reported, opens new tab at the American Association for Cancer Research 2025, opens new tab meeting in Chicago.
Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here.
From 2010 to 2020, breast cancer deaths among women ages 20-49 declined significantly across all breast cancer subtypes and racial and ethnic groups, with marked declines starting after 2016, according to an analysis of data from the national Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry.
Overall, the breast cancer death rate in this age group fell from 9.70 per 100,000 women in 2010 to 1.47/100,000 in 2020.
The decline was sharper after 2016, likely due to advancements in treatment options, greater uptake of precision medicine, and expanded access to care and screening in women ages 40-49, study leader Adetunji Toriola of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis said in a statement.
While breast cancer mortality declined in every racial and ethnic group, non-Hispanic Black women had the highest rate in both 2010 (16.56/100,000) and 2020 (3.41/100,000).
Non-Hispanic white women had the lowest rates in 2010 (9.18/100,000) and 2020 (1.16/100,000).
'We have made tremendous advances in reducing mortality from breast cancer in young women but there are still opportunities for improvements, especially in relation to eliminating disparities,' Toriola said.
'We must continue to perform impactful research to ensure further reduction in breast cancer mortality, including research into understanding the tumor biology and molecular mechanisms driving carcinogenesis and treatment response in younger women.'
GLP-1 DRUGS MAY CURB ATRIAL FIBRILLATION
GLP-1 drugs that are used to treat diabetes and have become wildly popular for weight loss, may also be useful for controlling the common heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation, researchers reported, opens new tab at the Heart Rhythm 2025, opens new tab meeting in San Diego.
Researchers looked at more than 2,500 patients with type 2 diabetes, atrial fibrillation and obesity at 170 U.S. Veterans Affairs medical centers.
Those who were receiving a GLP-1 drug experienced a 13% reduction in major AF-related events during a median follow-up of three years, compared to patients receiving other medications for their diabetes.
AF-related events included hospitalizations for the disorder, need for electroshock therapy to reset the heart rhythm, and ablation procedures to heat heart tissue in order to create scars that interrupt the electrical signals causing the arrhythmia.
Researchers did not identify the drugs being taken but common examples of GLP-1 medicines for diabetes include Novo Nordisk's (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab Ozempic, Rybelsus and Victoza, and Eli Lilly's (LLY.N), opens new tab Mounjaro and Trulicity.
Because patients were taking low doses of GLP-1 drugs, rather than higher doses used for weight loss, the results suggest the arrhythmia benefits are independent of any weight-loss benefit, the researchers noted.
The study was not designed to prove the GLP-1 drugs caused the reduction in AF events.
But study leader Dr. Varun Sundaram of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University said, "given the growing obesity epidemic and the rising prevalence of atrial fibrillation," it lays the foundation for a new approach to treating AF if larger trials confirm the potential benefits.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
18 hours ago
- Reuters
FDA to screen all imports, exemptions for low-value shipments revoked
July 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it will now review all imports of the products it regulates regardless of their quantity or value, after a federal law enforcement agency recently rescinded an exemption for small shipments. Under the updated regulations, exemptions that previously allowed import of some product shipments valued at $800 or less without a full screening by the FDA will be revoked, it said in an industry notice. The health regulator expects the new regulations, which kicked in from July 9, will improve its oversight of the U.S. supply chain and help identify any repeat offenders. These changes will allow the FDA to review all electronically transmitted products, such as those ordered online and offered for import. The new rules will apply to all FDA-regulated products, including medicines, food, beverages, dietary supplements, cosmetics, medical devices and biological samples. Smaller parcels will have to comply with the same standards as bulky shipments, the notice said. This could increase the agency's oversight of the so-called "gray market" for obesity medicines. Americans have been bringing in cheap active ingredients from China "for research purposes", according to a Reuters report from June that cited import data and social media postings. Shipments of such active ingredients from Chinese entities not registered with the FDA jumped 44% in January from the previous month, according to research by a public health group called Partnership for Safe Medicines. Packages valued at less than $800 that enter the U.S. under the exemption were not included in the data.
Reuters
21 hours ago
- Reuters
Astronauts from India, Poland, Hungary return with NASA veteran from space station
LOS ANGELES, July 15 (Reuters) - NASA retiree turned private astronaut Peggy Whitson splashed down safely in the Pacific early on Tuesday after her fifth trip to the International Space Station, joined by crewmates from India, Poland and Hungary returning from their countries' first ISS mission. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four-member team parachuted into calm seas off the Southern California coast at around 2:30 a.m. PDT (0930 GMT) following a fiery reentry through Earth's atmosphere that capped a 22-hour descent from orbit. The return flight concluded the fourth ISS mission organized by Texas-based startup Axiom Space in collaboration with SpaceX, the private rocket venture of billionaire Elon Musk headquartered near Los Angeles. The return was carried live by a joint SpaceX-Axiom webcast. Two sets of parachutes, visible through the darkness and light fog with infrared cameras, slowed the capsule's final descent to about 15 mph (24 kph) moments before its splashdown off San Diego. Minutes earlier, the spacecraft had been streaking like a mechanical meteor through Earth's lower atmosphere, generating enough frictional heat to send temperatures outside the capsule soaring to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius). The astronauts' flight suits are designed to keep them cool as the cabin heats up. The Axiom-4 crew was led by Whitson, 65, who retired from NASA in 2018 after a pioneering career that included becoming the U.S. space agency's first female chief astronaut and the first woman ever to command an ISS expedition. She radioed to mission control that the crew was "happy to be back" moments after their return. A recovery ship was immediately dispatched to secure the capsule and hoist it from the ocean onto the deck of the vessel. The crew members were to be extricated from the capsule one by one and undergo medical checkups before the recovery vessel ferries them to shore, a process expected to take about an hour. Now director of human spaceflight for Axiom, Whitson has now logged 695 days in space, a U.S. record, during three previous NASA missions, a fourth flight to orbit as commander of the Axiom-2 crew in 2023 and her fifth mission to the ISS commanding Axiom-4. Rounding out the Axiom-4 crew were Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, of India, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, 41, of Poland, and Tibor Kapu, 33, of Hungary. They returned with a cargo of science samples from more than 60 microgravity experiments conducted during their 18-day visit to the ISS and due for shipment to researchers back on Earth for final analysis. For India, Poland and Hungary, the launch marked the first human spaceflight of each country in more than 40 years and the first mission ever to send astronauts from their government's respective space programs to the ISS. The participation of Shukla, an Indian air force pilot, is seen by India's space program as a precursor of sorts to the debut crewed mission of its Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft, planned for 2027. Uznanski-Wisniewski is a Polish astronaut assigned to the European Space Agency, while Kapu is part of his country's Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) program, though he is not the first person of Hungarian descent to board the space station. Billionaire Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software designer who became a U.S. citizen in 1982, has twice visited the ISS as a space tourist, in 2007 and 2009, hitching rides aboard Russian Soyuz capsules. But like many wealthy individuals from various countries who have paid their own way for joyrides to space, Simonyi was not flying on behalf of his homeland or any government. Dubbed "Grace" by its crew, the newly commissioned capsule flown for Axiom-4 was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral in Florida on June 25, becoming the fifth vehicle in SpaceX's Crew Dragon fleet. The Ax-4 team arrived at the ISS on June 26, welcomed aboard by the station's latest rotating crew of seven occupants - three U.S. astronauts, one Japanese crewmate and three Russian cosmonauts. The two crews parted company again early on Monday when Crew Dragon Grace undocked to begin its voyage home. Axiom-4 also marks the 18th crewed spaceflight logged by SpaceX since 2020, when Musk's rocket company ushered in a new NASA era by providing American astronauts their first rides to space from U.S. soil since the end of the space shuttle program nine years earlier. For Axiom, a 9-year-old venture co-founded by NASA's former ISS program manager, the mission builds on its business of putting astronauts sponsored by private companies and foreign governments into low-Earth orbit. Axiom also is one of a handful of companies developing a commercial space station of its own intended to eventually replace the ISS, which NASA expects to retire around 2030.
Reuters
21 hours ago
- Reuters
US measles cases at highest level since disease was declared eliminated
July 9 (Reuters) - Confirmed measles cases in the U.S. reached 1,288, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Wednesday, the highest since the childhood disease was declared eliminated from the country in 2000. The 'eliminated' status is given when there has not been a continuous spread of a disease for more than a year. Measles cases in the U.S. were at their highest since 1992 when they totaled 2,126, according to CDC data. The Department of Health & Human Services, which oversees the CDC, said the risk of measles infection is low for the overall U.S. population, but higher in communities with low vaccination rates in areas with active measles outbreaks. Outbreaks this year have primarily been driven by a drop in vaccination rates, particularly among children in states such as Texas and New Mexico, where coverage has fallen well below the 95% threshold required for herd immunity. The CDC continues to provide technical assistance, laboratory support and vaccines in response to the outbreaks, HHS said. "The U.S. is at risk of losing its measles elimination status should cases continue at this rate," said William Moss, a pediatrician at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The country surpassed 1,000 measles cases in May. Although the spread of infection has slowed since then, it has reached surrounding states. "It is true that the slope of the curve has flattened somewhat... but its hard to predict what patterns will play out," Moss said. Experts have urged public health officials to provide urgent endorsements for highly effective vaccines. The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 97% effective after two doses, according to the CDC. "CDC continues to recommend MMR vaccines as the best way to protect against measles," HHS said. Disinformation, particularly around the safety of the measles vaccine, has also undermined confidence. Parallel data from Johns Hopkins University's outbreak response center, published on Friday, had also showed that measles cases in the U.S. have surpassed the previous high of 1,274 in 2019. (This story has been corrected to update the headline to include the word 'disease' and say measles cases in the US were at their highest since 1992, not in 1992, in paragraph 2)
