Hem/Onc Round-up: Hair Dye Does Not Increase Cancer Risk, Racial Disparities in Cancer, Prostate Cancer Updates, and more

Here are the top stories recently covered by DocWire News in the hematology/oncology section. In this edition, read about several prostate cancer updates, how Chadwick Boseman’s death highlights racial disparities in colon cancer, the correlation (or lack thereof) between hair dye and cancer risk, black women and cervical cancer mortality, and more.

Despite previous studies that indicated that people who use hair dye have an augmented risk of cancer, especially bladder cancer and breast cancer, in the largest study to date, researchers could not confirm this link.

Black women with cervical cancer had worse five-year relative survival rates compared to white women in a study of patients in Alabama.

Less than half of patients diagnosed with low-grade brain tumors are full-time employed after a year of diagnosis, according to a study published in the journal Neurology.

A study compared dementia risk among prostate cancer patients receiving different types of androgen deprivation therapy and observed a correlation between antiandrogen monotherapy, but not gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists or orchiectomy, and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Chadwick Boseman, the beloved star of ‘Black Panther,’ died from colon cancer at the young age of 43. Boseman’s death underscores a troubling racial disparity – colon cancer kills African Americans at a higher rate than any other race in America.

An analysis observed a significant surge in prostatectomies in high-risk prostate cancer patients over a 12-year period, nearly matching that of radiotherapy, which sharply declined during the same time period.

A new study finds that Black children with cancer are far less likely to receive proton radiotherapy compared to white children.

A study assessed the effect of a daily text message intervention on oral mercaptopurine adherence in adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although the intervention did not appear to have an effect on adherence, the study did unearth a group at risk for low adherence who should be the target of future intervention strategies—adolescents with low adherence at baseline.