Selected Articles from This Issue

Mariotto and colleagues used the linked SEER-Medicare data to provide contemporary estimates of cancer-attributable medical costs for older cancer survivors in the United States, including survivors with multiple cancers. When medical cost estimates were applied to projections of the prevalence of cancer survivorship. the authors found that the national cancer-attributable medical costs of care, including inpatient and outpatient services and prescription drugs, were $171.03 billion dollars in 2015. When medical cost estimates were combined with projected cancer survivorship prevalence in 2030, national cancer-attributable costs of care increased by 39% to $237.05 billion, based solely on the aging and growth of the U.S. population. The national cancer-attributed medical care costs in the United States are substantial and projected to increase dramatically by 2030 due to population changes alone, reflecting the rising burden of cancer care among cancer survivors.

This study by Befort and colleagues examined the impact of weight loss and weight regain on circulating biomarkers among breast cancer survivors enrolled in a weight loss trial. With a mean weight loss of 13 kg at 6 months, favorable changes in biomarkers were observed at 6 months and remained significant at 18 months despite attenuation in some. Women who lost >10% showed greater modulation for leptin, adiponectin/leptin ratio, PAI-1, and insulin. These women continued to show improvements in adiponectin from 6 to 18 months, even with weight regain. Findings inform the level of weight loss required to impact pathway biomarkers.

Hispanics are differentially burdened by cancer risk factors and outcomes, yet little is known about their patterns of trust in cancer information. Camacho-Rivera and colleagues utilized data from the Health Information National Trends Survey to examine heterogeneity in trust of cancer information among Hispanic adults in the United States. Cubans and Puerto Ricans were twice as likely to trust information from print media compared to Mexicans. Hispanics 75 years and older were three times as likely to trust information from religious organizations compared to those aged 18 to 34. These findings have implications for tailoring and disseminating cancer-related information to Hispanic subgroups.

Tomato intake has been reported to be associated with reduced risk of several cancers, but not with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Thomas and colleagues used data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study to assess the association between tomato intake and HCC and a nested subgroup with availability of hepatitis B infection status. They found that those in the highest quartile of tomato intake had 0.63 times the hazard of HCC compared to the lowest quartile, and this association remained among HBsAg-negative individuals. Tomato intake is a low-cost preventative measure that may reduce HCC risk due to increasing rates of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.