Adults living alone at higher risk for cancer mortality

 A recent study completed by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) has shown that within the United States, adults living alone "were at a higher risk of cancer mortality in several sociodemographic groups, compared to adults living with others."  According to the report, led by principal scientist Dr. Hyunjung Lee at the ACS, 38 million households lived alone in 2022, compared to 7 million households in 1960.  Middle-aged adults (ages 45-64) "living alone had a 1.43 times higher [cancer mortality] risk" due in part to feelings of loneliness and social isolation.  

To read more about this study, click here. 

 

Statin treatment linked to fewer cancer deaths

Being treated for high cholesterol with statins is being linked with a reduced risk of death and better survival from four common cancers. The results come from a study of 14 years of UK data that included nearly a million people.

Data on deaths from cancers came from the Office for National Statistics. When researchers from several UK centres analysed the data, they found that people diagnosed with high cholesterol and one of the four cancers were less likely to die from cancer.
However, being diagnosed with high cholesterol usually lead to treatment, often with statins.

The study could only find a link between high cholesterol and a lower death risk, rather than establishing any cause-and-effect.

Read more here.

Study mentioned:
European Society of Cardiology Frontiers in CardioVascular Biology (FCVB) 2016, Florence, Italy. Abstract: Hyperlipidaemia reduces mortality in breast, prostate, lung and bowel cancer.