Health Buzz: Religion and Cancer Treatment and Other Health News

Religious Cancer Patients More Likely to Get Aggressive End-of-Life Care

Deeply religious patients who heavily rely on their faith to help cope with cancer are more likely to get aggressive life-prolonging treatments during the last week of their lives, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association . Researchers interviewed 345 cancer patients, most of them Christians, about how religion factors into coping with the illness; they also asked about the volunteers' treatment preferences. About 80 percent of volunteers said religion helped them cope with cancer, and more than 50 percent said they meditated, prayed, or studied religion every day, the Boston Globe reports. The most religious people in the study were three times as likely as the least religious to select and receive aggressive treatment near the end of their lives, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and ventilation. They were also less likely to have prepared living wills, do-not-resuscitate orders, or healthcare proxies.

Religion seems to boost some patients' health, according to some research. But not all doctors see a role for faith in medicine.

Did Stress Give Don Imus Prostate Cancer?

Can stress contribute to cancer? Radio host Don Imus seems to think so; this week, the 68-year-old told listeners of his radio show that he believes that stress led him to develop prostate cancer, according to abcnews.com. "I think it was all the stress that caused this," he reportedly said on air. There is in fact some evidence to suggest that stress—in combination with other factors—may contribute to cancer. For example, research has found that women who think their lives are stressful appear to be more susceptible to the cancer-causing human papillomavirus. "Stress is bad for your body in many ways," wrote Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, in an exchange with U.S. News that preceded Imus's diagnosis. "Overproduction of some stress hormones may actually be good for certain kinds of cancers."

Stress isn't always bad, though. U.S. News's Deborah Kotz has described how stress, if managed, can be beneficial.

Stem Cells: 10 Diseases They May—or May Not—Cure

With President Obama's recent lifting of the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, scientists now have new prospects for developing medical treatments. Excitement over the embryonic cells comes from their remarkable ability, as biological blank slates, to become virtually any of the body's cell types, Lindsay Lyon reports. Many observers believe the president's move will accelerate the hunt for cures for some of our most vexing diseases. However, the benefits are largely hypothetical, given the infancy of the field, and are offset by some real obstacles: The risks of embryonic stem cells, as well as cells programmed to become like them, include the possibility they will actually cause cancers in people who receive them. Nonetheless, U.S. News provides a look at 10 health problems that stem cells might someday cure—or at least help treat.

Learn what stem cells can do--and cant. Also, here are 3 ways stem cells may help speed new cures.

—January W. Payne

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