Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report Highlights Recently Released Journal Articles

The following highlights recently released journal articles on women's health issues.

Public Health
"Efficacy of Naltrexone in Smoking Cessation: A Preliminary Study and an Examination of Sex Differences," Nicotine and Tobacco Research: Andrea King of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago and colleagues examined 110 adults who smoked 15 to 40 cigarettes daily and had tried to quit several times, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. All participants underwent six sessions of behavioral counseling and wore a nicotine patch for one month. Half of the participants took a naltrexone pill daily, and half took a placebo. According to the study, 58% of the women who took naltrexone after two months had quit successfully, compared with 39% in the placebo group. The results were not statistically significant among men. In addition, about one-third of all participants continued not to smoke after six months (Ritter, Chicago Sun-Times, 10/9). "The results suggest continued examination of naltrexone as an adjunct in smoking cessation, particularly in female smokers, who have historically shown worse outcomes with traditional treatment methods," researchers concluded (King et al., Nicotine and Tobacco Research, October 2006). King is conducting a follow-up study that will monitor 324 smokers for one year (Chicago Sun-Times, 10/9).

"Occupation and Breast Cancer: A Canadian Case-Control Study," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: James Brophy -- executive director of the Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers in Sarnia, Canada -- and colleagues compared the work histories of 564 women diagnosed with breast cancer at the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre from 2000 through 2002. Of the 564 women, 154 had worked on farms, the study finds. The women who had worked on farms were compared to an equal number of women living in the same area who did not have breast cancer, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports. The study finds that women with farming experience were 2.8 times more likely to develop breast cancer compared with nonfarmers. In addition, the study finds that women who had worked on farms and then worked in the automotive industry were four times more likely to develop the disease than those who had worked in neither industry (Mittelstaedt, Globe and Mail, 10/12). According to Brophy, environmental contaminants such as antibiotics, growth hormones and diesel fumes are common in agricultural settings and could be a factor in the higher breast cancer rates, but the study could not determine if one type of farming is more dangerous than another. The study is not a "smoking gun," Brophy said, adding that it "shows the importance of looking at occupation as a potential risk factor [for developing breast cancer] and that something is going on ... within the rural population." Ann Chambers, a professor of oncology at the University of Western Ontario's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, said that it was a "good study" but that it is important to understand that the association between cancer and farming that is drawn from the study does not prove there is a causal relationship between the two. Brophy currently is expanding his sample size to 1,000 women to see if the link between breast cancer and farming is seen outside the Windsor area, the Toronto Star reports (Hall, Toronto Star, 10/12).

"Truncating Mutations in the Fanconi Anemia J Gene BRIP1 Are Low-Penetrance Breast Cancer Susceptibility Alleles," Nature Genetics: Nazneen Rahman of the Institute of Cancer Research in the United Kingdom and colleagues screened women for genes that interact with BRCA1 and BRCA2 -- mutations of which have been found to increase the risk of developing breast cancer -- Reuters UK reports. The researchers conducted the study among 1,212 women with breast cancer who did not have mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 and more than 2,000 women without breast cancer. The researchers found that nine of the women with breast cancer had mutations in a gene called BRIP1 -- which helps to repair damaged DNA -- while two of the women without cancer had the mutation. According to the researchers, certain mutations in BRIP1 -- which also is called BACH1 -- might cause the blood disorder Fanconi anemia (Reuters UK, 10/9).














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