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Breast Cancer Rates Rise Among Asian American and Pacific Islander Women

An increasing number of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women are being diagnosed with breast cancer, as doctors and researchers struggle to understand the reason for this emerging trend. In 2021, approximately 11,000 AAPI women were diagnosed with breast cancer, and approximately 1,500 died, KFF Health News reported. The rate of new incidence in this population is climbing faster than many other racial and ethnic groups. The trend is even more pronounced among women younger than 50, with new diagnoses jumping by 52% from 2000 to 2021. In 2021, approximately 55 out of 100,000 AAPI women in this age group were diagnosed with breast cancer. That rate is higher than Black and Hispanic women and about the same as white women. Rates for AAPI women 50 to 64 and 65 and older also increased by 33% and 43%, respectively, at a time when the rate for all women grew by just 3%. The breast cancer death rate remained flat at 12 out of every 100,000 AAPI women from 2000 to 2021—a period when breast cancer mortality for all women dropped by 30%. While researchers have noticed this alarming trend, they still lack answers about its causes, in part because this demographic includes a wide array of ethnic backgrounds. Some theorize it could be attributed to increased stress or changing behavior as this population adopts more Americanized lifestyles. “It’s a real trend,” Helen Chew, director of the Clinical Breast Cancer Program at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California, told KFF Health News. “It is just difficult to tease out exactly why it is.”

Most People With Cancer Report Cognitive Side Effects

More than half of people diagnosed with cancer will experience cognitive problems, according to a study published online Aug. 28 in JAMA Network Open. Cognitive symptoms that can commonly occur in people with cancer include difficulty with attention, concentration, memory, planning and problem solving. Researchers analyzed data for 5,078 individuals diagnosed with cancer from 2013 to 2019. They found 68.5% reported having cognitive side effects, with 30.4% rating those symptoms as moderate to severe, Cancer Therapy Advisor reported. The rate of cognitive problems was highest in people with melanoma and breast, gastrointestinal, and brain or central nervous cancers. Researchers also found experiencing moderate-to-severe side effects was associated with increased risk for cancer recurrence, anxiety, depression, drowsiness, tiredness and shortness of breath. “This cross-sectional study found that cognitive symptoms were frequently reported by patients across a wide range of cancer types; higher severity of cognitive symptoms was consistently associated with higher symptom burden,” the study authors wrote. “The findings could be used to inform decision-making regarding access to cognitive screening, assessment and supportive care in outpatient oncology clinics.”

MRI Can Help Anticipate Treatment Outcomes in Rectal Cancer

MRI may help predict outcomes in people diagnosed with rectal cancer and assist providers and patients in determining treatment plans, according to research published online Sept. 3 in Radiology. In an earlier study conducted from 2014 to 2020, researchers followed people with stage II or III rectal adenocarcinoma who received chemotherapy prior to surgery. Of the participants, 277 had an MRI after completing chemotherapy. In the new study, researchers analyzed outcomes for these 277 people to see if the MRI predicted future health, according to an article at AuntMinnie.com, a website for radiologists and medical imaging professionals. MRI results were divided into three categories: clinical complete response, near-complete clinical response and incomplete clinical response. After 4.1 years of follow-up, participants who had a clinical complete response as determined by an MRI had better rates of organ preservation (65.3% vs. 41.6%) and five-year disease-free survival (81.8% vs. 67.6%) than those with a near-complete clinical response. MRI staging also predicted overall and recurrence-free survival. Researchers noted the findings indicate MRI can help determine when people should undergo surgery or adopt a watch-and-wait approach. “Despite some limitations inherent to MRI itself, by providing an MRI classification of response to treatment that is linked to clinically relevant outcomes, the study … shines a light regarding the potential role of MRI in the emerging and fast-developing area of watch-and-wait management for organ preservation in patients with rectal cancer,” Laurent Milot, a radiologist at Edouard Herriot University Hospital in Lyon, France, wrote in an accompanying editorial.