Highlights of This Issue

Abstract

Higher breast cancer mortality rates for African-American women compared to non-Hispanic white women are well documented. Tao and colleagues examined data from California breast cancer patients to ask if this disparity persists across disease subgroups and stages at diagnosis. The authors report substantially higher hazards of breast cancer death among African-American women with stage II/III HR+/HER2− and stage III triple-negative cancers relative to whites. These data provide insights to target particular subtypes of breast cancer among African-American patients.Symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux disease (sGERD) elevates the risk for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), but studies suggest that sGERD contributes to only approximately 16% of EAC. Hazelton and colleagues developed a multiscale model to estimate the role of factors other than sGERD that contribute to EAC development. The authors found that 77.8% of male EAC and 32.6% of female EAC is attributable to factors other than sGERD, including obesity. EAC surveillance should target individuals with both long-duration sGERD and high body mass index.High body mass index (BMI) is linked to increased risk of colorectal cancer for men, but risk estimates from observational studies can be biased and/or confounded. Thrift and colleagues used data from colorectal cancer cases and controls and conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis of weighted genetic risk scores to estimate the causal association between BMI and colorectal cancer. The authors report that subjects carrying greater numbers of BMI-increasing alleles had higher colorectal cancer risk. Thus, both Mendelian randomization and epidemiologic studies suggest a strong association between obesity and the risk of colorectal cancer.Fecal occult blood testing (FOBt) reduces colorectal cancer mortality, but the test has low sensitivity. Miles and colleagues examined the psychological impact of a missed cancer in a FOBt-screened population. The authors compared patients with screen-detected disease to patients with a missed FOBt-screened cancer and found that patients with a missed cancer report low levels of trust in FOBt and poorer quality of life. Improvements in FOBt sensitivity could improve quality of life among people who complete an FOBt screen.