Bisphosphonates
are currently widely used in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis, as
well as in patients with cancer metastases to bone or multiple myeloma. With a 75 million people affected by osteoporosis in
the US, Europe and Japan, this represents a significant population being treated
with these medications.
The benefits conferred by bisphosphonates in terms of reduced
mortality and morbidity as a result of fracture reduction are well known, as
are some of the adverse side effects such as esophagitis and osteonecrosis of
the jaw. However, following a recent report by the US Food and Drug
Administration of esophageal cancer in bisphosphonate users, investigators have
began looking at the relationship between the use of oral bisphosphonates and
various cancers, especially cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, and have
produced varying results. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A
lead series of cohorts has been run by the American Cancer Society (ACS) which
has led U.S. prospective studies documenting the link between smoking
cigarettes and lung cancer from the first study of over 188,000 men, to the
Cancer Prevention Study 1, follow-up of 1 million men and women and also documenting
the benefits of stopping smoking where after more than one year the risk waslower than current smokers and took more than 10 years to return to the risk of
never smokers. Subsequent follow-up data informed the estimates of tobacco
smoking to cancer mortality in the USA providing essential input to the report
by Doll and Peto on the potential to prevent cancer.
Further updates of the ACS
cohorts refined our understanding of the burden of tobacco across decades . The
Cancer Prevention Study cohorts have also contributed leadership to documenting
the burden due to overweight and obesity setting the stage for the
International Agency for Research on Cancer report on this topic and global estimates . Like other cohorts studying
lifestyle and diet data , the ACS also contributed major data on mortality due
to alcohol. Read more...............
