ABORTION CAUSES BREAST CANCER?

Not necessarily. They are associated but that could be because of a common social class factor. Abstract follows:

Breast cancer risk factors in Turkish women – a University Hospital based nested case control study

By Vahit Ozmen et al.

Background

Breast cancer has been increased in developing countries, but there are limited data for breast cancer risk factors in these countries. To clarify the risk for breast cancer among the Turkish women, an university hospital based nested case-control study was conducted.

Methods

Between January 2000 and December 2006, a survey was prospectively conducted among women admitted to clinics of Istanbul Medical Faculty for examination and/or treatment by using a questionnaire. Therefore, characteristics of patients diagnosed with breast cancer (n = 1492) were compared with control cases (n = 2167) admitted to hospital for non-neoplastic, non-hormone related diseases.

Results

Breast cancer risk was found to be increased in women with age (≥ 50) [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.42–3.18], induced abortion (95% CI 1.13–1.53), age at first birth (~ 35) (95% CI 1.62–5.77), body mass index (BMI ~ 25) (95% CI 1.27–1.68), and a positive family history (95% CI 1.11–1.92). However, decreased breast cancer risk was associated with the duration of education (≥ 13 years) (95% CI 0.62–0.81), presence of spontaneous abortion (95% CI 0.60–0.85), smoking (95% CI 0.61–0.85), breast feeding (95% CI 0.11–0.27), nulliparity (95% CI 0.92–0.98), hormone replacement therapy (HRT) (95% CI 0.26–0.47), and oral contraceptive use (95% CI 0.50–0.69). On multivariable logistic regression analysis, age (~ 50) years (OR 2.61, 95% CI 2.20–3.11), induced abortion (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.38–1.99), and oral contraceptive use (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.48–0.74) were found to be associated with breast cancer risk as statistically significant independent factors.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that age and induced abortion were found to be significantly associated with increased breast cancer risk whereas oral contraceptive use was observed to be associated with decreased breast cancer risk among Turkish women in Istanbul.

World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2009, 7:37





Study: Depression can be “chronic” in preschoolers

Mostly those in daycare, on the basis of previous research. Cortisol (stress hormone) levels among young children spending long periods in institutional care are often disturbingly high

Depression in children as young as 3 is real and not just a passing grumpy mood, according to provocative new research. The study is billed as the first to show major depression can be chronic even in young children, contrary to the stereotype of the happy-go-lucky preschooler.

Until fairly recently, "people really haven't paid much attention to depressive disorders in children under the age of 6," said lead author Dr. Joan Luby, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St. Louis. "They didn't think it could happen ... because children under 6 were too emotionally immature to experience it."

Previous research suggested that depression affects about 2 percent of U.S. preschoolers, or roughly 160,000 youngsters, at one time or another. But it was unclear whether depression in preschoolers could be chronic, as it can be in older children and adults.

Luby's research team followed more than 200 preschoolers ages 3 to 6, including 75 diagnosed with major depression, for up to two years. The children had up to four mental health exams during the study.

Among initially depressed children, 64 percent were still depressed or had a recurrent episode of depression six months later, and 40 percent still had problems after two years. Overall, nearly 20 percent had persistent or recurrent depression at all four exams.

Depression was most common in children whose mothers were also depressed or had other mood disorders, and among those who had experienced a traumatic event, such as the death of a parent or physical or sexual abuse.

The new study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and released Monday in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, did not examine depression treatment, which is highly controversial among children so young. Some advocates say parents and doctors are too quick to give children psychiatric drugs.

University of Chicago psychiatrist Dr. Sharon Hirsch said the public thinks of preschoolers as carefree: "They get to play. Why would they be depressed?" But depression involves chemical changes in the brain that can affect even youngsters with an otherwise happy life, said Hirsch, who was not involved in the study.

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