Fw: Medscape's Twisted Headline of Brinton Study

[Guest guest]

I can't believe this headline...leave it to the media people to distort the

interpretation to make it sound all sugar coated. It makes me sick.

Patty

From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 11:41 AM

Subject: Medscape's Twisted Headline of Brinton Study

> " Augmentation Mammoplasty Associated With Reduced Mortality "

>

> EXCERPT: The investigators attribute the increased risk of cervical and

> vulvar cancer

> to reproductive and lifestyle factors common to women undergoing plastic

> surgery.

> .

> Offerings: Medscape.com Charts Mobile Logician CBSHealthwatch.

>

> Augmentation Mammoplasty Associated With Reduced Mortality

> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

----

>

> --

> WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Apr 26 - Women with cosmetic breast implants

> have substantially lower mortality risks than the general population,

> according to results of a large cohort study. However, they appear to be

at

> greater risk for some specific cancers, respiratory illnesses, and

suicide.

>

> Dr. Louise A. Brinton, of the National Cancer Institute, in Bethesda,

> land, and her research team reviewed the medical records and death

> certificates of 13,488 women who had received breast implants between 1960

> and 1988 and of 3936 women who had undergone other types of plastic

surgery.

> They report their findings in the May issues of Epidemiology and the

ls

> of Epidemiology.

>

> The standarized mortality ratios were 0.69 and 0.58 for the implant

patients

> and control patients, respectively, compared with the general population.

> " This finding supports the notion that patients who choose to undergo

plastic

> surgery are self-selected in terms of generally being healthy, " the

> investigators write in Epidemiology.

>

> Some causes of death were elevated among implant patients compared with

the

> general population, including deaths from brain cancer, pneumonia,

emphysema

> and suicide, with mortality ratios ranging between 1.36 and 2.45.

>

> The women who obtained breast implants, approximately half of whom

received

> silicone-gel implants, were more than twice as likely to die from brain

> cancer and four times as likely to commit suicide compared with the

control

> group. However, Dr. Brinton's team notes, " given the limited number of

deaths

> >from either of these causes, the possibility that these were chance

findings

> cannot be ruled out. "

>

> The investigators found that other types of cancers that were believed to

be

> associated with silicone breast implants, such as sarcoma and multiple

> myeloma, as well as connective tissue disorders do not appear to be

> associated with breast implants.

>

> " When scientists make many different comparisons [in one study] it is

> possible for them to have some findings that have positive associations by

> chance, " Dr. Esther C. Janowsky, of the University of North Carolina at

> Chapel Hill, told Reuters Health.

>

> " To further investigate whether or not breast implants are actually linked

to

> increases in death due to brain cancer or suicide, one would have to mount

> another investigation that specifically looked to address those

> relationships, " she added.

>

> " The good news is that [the study] does confirm that there is no evidence

to

> support an association with breast implants and connective tissue

disease, "

> she said.

>

> In their report in the ls of Epidemiology, Dr. Brinton's group notes

that

> the standardized incidence ratios for leukemia and cancers of the stomach,

> cervix, vulva, and brain were significantly elevated compared with that of

> the general population.

>

> The investigators attribute the increased risk of cervical and vulvar

cancer

> to reproductive and lifestyle factors common to women undergoing plastic

> surgery.

>

> Epidemiology 2001;12:321-326. Ann Epidemiol 2001;11:248-256.

>

>