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The way lung cancer patients feel around the time they`re diagnosed may be related to how long they survive -- even after taking into account objective measures of the disease, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that newly-diagnosed lung cancer patients who rated their quality of life higher generally lived longer with the disease: typically surviving nearly six years, versus less than two years among patients who`d reported a poor quality of life.

And objective measures -- like age, the stage and aggressiveness of the cancer and other health conditions -- did not fully explain the connection.

Quality of life is a "complex construct" that includes a person`s feelings of physical, mental and emotional well-being, said Jeff A. Sloan, a professor of oncology and biostatistics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who led the new study.

But doctors can begin to get at the issue by basically asking, "How are you doing?" Sloan said in an interview.

"That can start a conversation," he said.

Blood work and other lab tests are one way of seeing how a patient is doing, according to Sloan. But, he said, doctors have long been aware that two patients can look the same as far as objective cancer-related measures go, yet fare differently.

A number of studies have now shown that quality of life seems to affect the long-term picture for cancer patients, Sloan said.

So doctors at Mayo have begun routinely assessing cancer patients` quality of life, and some other cancer centres are starting to do the same, he added.

The current study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, included 2,442 patients treated for lung cancer at Mayo over 11 years.

Around the time of their diagnoses, patients rated their overall quality of life on a standard scale of zero to 100. The researchers found that 21 percent had a "deficit" in quality of life -- or a score of 50 or lower.

Those patients survived for substantially less time: 1.6 years, on average, versus 5.6 years in the group with a higher quality of life around the time of diagnosis.

There were other differences between the two groups, too. Patients with a poorer quality of life were more likely to be men, current smokers and have more-advanced cancer, for example.

But even when Sloan`s team factored in those differences, quality of life was still a predictor of survival time. Overall, the death rate during the study period was 55 percent higher among patients who gave low ratings to their quality of life.

For a long time the city gynaecologists and cancer surgeons have been claiming that cervical cancer is becoming the leading cancer in women. This was confirmed in the study, led by the centre for global health research, in close collaboration with Tata Memorial Hospital, published in Lancet on Wednesday. It revealed that 17% of the total cancer deaths in women are because of cervical cancer.

In women, cervical cancer was the leading fatal cancer in both rural and urban areas, with somewhat higher rates in rural areas. The cervical cancer death rate of 16 per 1 lakh population suggests that a 30-year-old Indian woman has about 0.7% risk of dying from cervical cancer before 70 years of age, in the absence of other diseases. By contrast, the risk of deaths during pregnancy for Indian women aged 15- 49 years is about 0.6%.

The study pointed out strategies to reduce cervical cancer deaths. This included vaccination against human papillomavirus before marriage, and for married women a once-only-testing or screening followed by visual inspection with acetic acid and further referral for treatment.

According to experts, simple precautions like better hygiene, use of copper-T (birth control measure for women) and regular screening can help bring down this cancer considerably.Dr Rajendra Badwe, director of Tata Memorial Hospital said, “The incidence of cervical cancer is coming down every year by 15- 20%. Early detection is one of the key factors to bring down the cervical cancer mortality rate.”

The study also shows mortality deaths were higher in Hindu women than in Muslim women and experts feel this is because of circumcision among Muslim men, which reduces the sexual transmission of human papillomavirus. “Studies have proved that circumcision reduces the risk of transfer of HIV virus,” said Badwe.

Ashwini Bhalerao Gandhi, consulting gynecologist, PD Hinduja Hospital said, “I ensure that women coming to me are made aware of what is cervical cancer and the how it can be prevented. If they have daughters, we persuade them to go for vaccination. I have kept a pamplet with all the information on cervical cancer and I make the patient read it.”

Diabetes has become an epidemic in the United States, with the number of cases tripling over the last three decades. Most of those cases are Type 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity and can lead to serious medical issues that range from heart disease to renal failure, blindness, and more. People living with obesity and Type 2 diabetes have tried all kinds of approaches to losing the weight and living healthier lives, but often with little success. Diet, exercise, and even medication have in many cases failed to produce substantial results. Many people with Type 2 diabetes take 10 to 12 medications on a daily basis, but for many that regimen seems to hardly put a dent in their condition. This is not just a matter of self-esteem, or even quality of life; Type 2 diabetes kills, and it is this grim reality that looms over so many people struggling with diabetes in this country. There is hope, however. Bariatric surgery can not only provide dramatic weight loss, but also reduce or even completely eliminate the need for diabetes medication. At Dr. Feiz & Associates, a reputable surgery center in Beverly Hills, Dr. Michael Feiz has seen this amazing development with his own eyes.

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