Gay Men More Likely to Have Had Cancer

A new study finds that homosexual men are twice as likely as other males to have been diagnosed with and then survive a cancer, shining a light on the unique medical risks that gay people may face. It's not the first time that researchers have noted differences in health risks linked to sexual orientation. Gay men, of course, are at higher risk of becoming infected with HIV, while lesbians may be more likely than heterosexual women to get breast cancer. Both gay men and lesbians have higher rates of tobacco use than the general population, and research has shown that lesbians drink more and are more prone to obesity than other women.

The new study adds to existing knowledge, but "there's a painful dearth of data about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health in general," noted Liz Margolies, executive director of the National LGBT Cancer Network, who's familiar with the new research. In the new study, published online May 9 in Cancer, researchers examined surveys involving more than 122,000 California residents from 2001, 2003 and 2005. Among other things, the surveys asked about sexual orientation and whether the participants had ever been diagnosed with cancer. About 8 percent of the gay men in the group reported having had cancer almost double the rate among the heterosexual and bisexual men surveyed.

Lesbians didn't have a higher rate of cancer than other women, but lesbian cancer survivors were about twice as likely to report that they had fair or poor health compared to heterosexual women. The study can't say whether gays and lesbians are more likely to develop cancer in the first place, since it doesn't include people who have died from the disease or may be too ill to answer questions, stressed study author Ulrike Boehmer, an associate professor of community health sciences at Boston University School of Public Health. Experts already believe that gay men face a higher risk of anal, lung, testicular and immune-system cancers, she said. For their part, lesbians are thought to possibly be at higher risk of breast cancer, perhaps because many of them don't give birth.

Daily Pill Lowers Odds for Infection With HIV

A pill a day cut the risk of HIV infection by almost 44 percent in those at highest risk for contracting the virus, namely sexually active gay and bisexual men, a new study finds. The reduction in risk climbed to nearly 73 percent among study participants who took the pill, called Truvada, 90 percent of the time, the researchers added. Truvada is already available by prescription in the United States as a treatment for HIV-infected people.

The pill, which was tested in over 2,500 men at 11 sites in six countries worldwide, combines two HIV antiretroviral medications, emtricitabine (Emtriva) and tenofovir (Viread). Experts are hailing the results as a big step in the worldwide effort to combat the spread of the HIV virus, which infected some 2.7 million people worldwide in 2008. And it adds to other efforts to prevent spread, such as a topical gel containing tenofovir that was found last summer to be effective in preventing HIV infection in women in southern Africa.

"These results represent a major advance in HIV prevention research," Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD & TB Prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement. "For the first time, we have evidence that a daily pill used to treat HIV is partially effective for preventing HIV among gay and bisexual men at high risk for infection, when combined with other prevention strategies. Given the heavy burden of HIV among gay and bisexual men, a new tool with potential additive benefit is exciting and welcome news."

Childhood Abuse Linked to Diabetes Risk in Adult Women

Women who were victims of childhood abuse may be at increased risk of developing diabetes in adulthood, new findings suggest. Researchers surveyed 67,853 U.S. nurses and found that 54 percent reported physical abuse and 34 percent reported sexual abuse before age 18. Moderate and severe physical and sexual abuse were associated with a 26 percent to 69 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood. "Much, although not all, of this association is explained by the greater weight gain of girls with a history of abuse.

The weight gain seems to start in teenage years and continues into adulthood, increasing the risk of diabetes," lead author Janet Rich-Edwards, director of developmental epidemiology at Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said in a Center for Advancing Health news release. But she added that weight gain explained only 60 percent of the association, "implying that the experience of abuse gets incorporated into the body through other mechanisms, as well." Further research is needed to understand the link between childhood abuse and diabetes, the study author added.

"One theory is that abused women develop disordered eating habits as a compensatory stress behavior, leading to excess weight gain," Rich-Edwards said. "Another theory suggests that child abuse may increase levels of stress hormones that later cause weight gain and insulin resistance, characteristic of diabetes." The study appears online and in the December print issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. "Child abuse can leave an enduring imprint on health in adulthood," Rich-Edwards said in the news release. "We hope to alert clinicians to the possible role of abuse in the histories of some patients that they see with pre-diabetes and diabetes. We also need to help families prevent child abuse, and we need to learn the best ways to reduce the long-term health burden that it imposes."