A Costly Diagnosis
Risky Business
Old Before Their Time
Data Stream
A Costly Diagnosis
The cost of treating blood cancers is twice that of treating other types of cancers , according to a study of health-care resource use and health-care costs in 31 European countries .
In 2012 , the total economic burden of a blood cancer diagnosis was € 12 billion ($ 13.1 billion ), which included
€ 7.3 billion ($ 8 billion )
( 62 % of total costs ) in health-care cost ,
€ 3.6 billion ($ 3.9 billion )
( 30 %) in productivity loss , and
€ 1 billion
($ 1.1 billion )
( 8 %) in informal care .
The spending on malignant blood disorders amounted to 8 % of the total healthcare expenditure on cancer in the European countries – a proportion second only to spending on breast cancer .
Source : Burns R , Leal J , Sullivan R , Luengo-Fernandez R . Economic burden of malignant blood disorders across Europe : a population-based cost analysis . Lancet Haematol . 2016 ; 3 : e362-70 .
Risky Business
Even after being diagnosed with cancer , many patients do not change the risky lifestyle behaviors ( like smoking , poor nutrition , and low physical activity ) that may have contributed to that diagnosis , according to a study published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship .
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ’ s 2013 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System , which asks U . S . residents about health-related risk behaviors , chronic health conditions , and use of preventive services , researchers compared the lifestyle behaviors between 47,139 cancer survivors and 407,191 controls without cancer .
Survivors were 11 % more likely to be physically inactive and 25 % more likely to smoke ( women only ).
Old Before Their Time
By tracking a molecular marker that has been shown to increase in people ’ s white blood cells as they age , scientists have found that stem cell transplant is linked to a considerable increase in the “ molecular age ” of these cells .
Researchers measured expression of p16 INK4a , a marker of cellular aging , before and six months after transplant in 63 patients undergoing stem cell transplantation .
Compared with pre-transplant levels , the expression of p16 INK4a six months after transplant was
3.1 times higher in autologous transplant and
1.9 times higher in allogeneic transplant .
Survivors were as likely as controls to participate in heavy drinking , be overweight or obese , and to not meet the daily recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption .
“ U . S . cancer survivors are not more likely than the general population to engage in all healthy lifestyle behaviors ,” the authors concluded . “ Interventions , including improved physician communication , to reduce physical inactivity among all cancer survivors and cigarette smoking among female survivors are needed .”
Source : Mowls DS , Brame LS , Martinez SA , Beebe LA . Lifestyle behaviors among US cancer survivors . J Cancer Surviv . 2016 ; 10:692-8 .
Autologous transplant appeared to age stem cells by 30 years , with the p16 INK4a levels in these patients ’ cells comparable to those found in individuals 30 years older chronologically .
Source : Wood WA , Krishnamurthy J , Nitin N , et al . Chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation increase p16INK4a expression , a biomarker of T-cell aging . EBioMedicine . 2016 August 21 . [ Epub ahead of print ]
28 ASH Clinical News November 2016