In June, the Basil Skyers Myeloma Foundation officially launched their report ‘Listen Up!  – Multiple Myeloma in Black Communities: An Unequal  Burden’. This was a very interesting report that aimed to provide a comprehensive view of how myeloma (a cancer that starts in the bone marrow) affects the black community.

From their work the authors found that myeloma disproportionately affects the black population with black people being 2-3 times more likely as white people to be diagnosed.  Specifically,  this disease is a challenge for black men with black men having the highest incidence and mortality than any other group.  In addition, black people affected by myeloma are likely to develop it at a slightly younger age and are on average four years younger than white people when diagnosed.  The reason why myeloma is more common in the black community is unknown and the report stresses the importance of further research to fully understand myeloma and its effects on the black community.

The report makes the following recommendations:

1. The improvement of the collection and interpretation of data on myeloma including ethnicity data.
2. Race and ethnicity should be consistently taken into account in clinical research in order to inform the development of clinically and culturally appropriate healthcare services.
3. Studies should be commissioned to understand the differences in diagnosis, survival and mortality between black and white groups, and to understand the efficacy of treatments
4. Wider attention should be given by local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and other public sector partners to the specific  health needs of the black community.

This is an interesting report that clearly highlights how myeloma affects the black community and the steps that need to be taken to start addressing the inequalities that exist in this disease area. The Lake Foundation  will aim to play its part in assisting in addressing some of these issues.

You can read the full report below.

 

This week The Lake Foundation became a member of the Croydon BME Forum and thus will be part of a growing alliance of black community groups working together to improve the lives of the BME community in Croydon.

The Croydon BME Forum is the umbrella organisation for Croydon’s BME voluntary and community sector. It engages with members of the community, building capacity and promoting equality and cohesion. It was established to give the BME community a voice ensuring key issues affecting residents of Croydon are raised with decision makers.

Specifically the forum works to:

• Ensure that they are involved in local policy and decision making; regeneration and neighbourhood renewal.
• Facilitate joint-working among BME communities to develop best practice and provide a unified BME voice within local strategic partnerships.
• Promote networking, collaboration and partnership between the BME voluntary sector and mainstream agencies building their organisational capacities.
• Engage with BME communities in all aspects of Croydon life.
• Encourage good race relations, community cohesion and equality of opportunity for all throughout Croydon.

We’re looking forward to being a part of this forum and are already very impressed with the first event we attended which was a Meet the Funder session with the Big Lottery Fund. This was a very informative session that discussed what makes a good grant application.
For more information on the Croydon BME Forum please visit their website here

A study published in the journal Circulation has estimated the number of global deaths per year that are associated with sugar-sweetened drinks, what diseases sugar-sweetened deaths are linked to and where in the world these deaths are occurring. They estimated that 184,000 deaths per year are associated with consuming sugar-sweetened drinks and when they broke these numbers down by disease area most of the sugar-sweetened drink deaths were associated with diabetes  (133,000 death per year).  Cardiovascular disease was associated with 45,000 of these deaths and cancers 6,450.

The study also found that the majority of sugar-sweetened drink deaths occur in middle-income countries  (71%) whilst 24% of these deaths occur in high-income countries and 5% in low-income countries.

This is a very important study as it yet again provides more evidence of the effect of sugar on our health. It shows the clear need for all of us to reduce our sugar consumption and this is particularly important for the black community who are 3 times more likely to have diabetes and therefore are more likely to be affected by sugar-sweetened drink death.

This week the National Institute for  Health and Care Excellence updated its suspected cancer GP guidelines and in doing so hopes to provide GPs with clear guidance to facilitate early diagnosis and  therefore a reduction in cancer deaths.

The guidelines use a new approach that focuses on patients’ symptoms rather than a particular cancer.  This means that patients who have  symptoms that relate to multiple cancers will be  investigated more appropriately as their symptoms will be brought together to determine all the potential cancers it could be rather than just looking at one cancer.

These new recommendations hope to ensure that GPs act faster when a patient has specific types of symptoms and give clear steps on what a GP should do to make a prompt diagnosis.
This is good news for patients as it means that GPs will now look at all symptoms together to get a full picture of what’s happening to their patient rather than looking at symptoms in isolation. Ultimately this should mean less visits to the GP, a quick referral and hopefully an early diagnosis.

This week doctors representing the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges have written an article in the BMJ about the problem of overdiagnosis which is where “individuals are diagnosed with conditions that will never cause symptoms or death”. The article explains that overdiagnosis is a direct result of the medical profession aiming to achieve early diagnosis but this drive to ensure that we diagnosis more diseases earlier means that in some situations we are creating more harm than good.  Another consequence of endeavouring to ensure an early diagnosis is that many doctors are using treatments where there is no evidence of clinical benefit, just so they are seen to be taking action. All of this means that in many patients are treated unnecessarily, resources are being wasted and we’re increasing patient anxiety, for no reason.

The issue of overdiagnosis has been recognised worldwide with the formation of Choosing Wisely in Canada and the USA which aims to advance dialogue on avoiding wasteful or unnecessary medical tests, treatments and procedures. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in the UK will be launching a UK Choosing Wisely programme and have put forward to following changes that need to take place if this type of programme is to be successful in addressing over diagnosis and overtreatment.

1. Doctors should provide patients with resources that increase their understanding about potential arms of interventions and help them accept that doing nothing can often be the best approach.
2. Patients should be encouraged to ask questions such as, “Do I really need this test or procedure? What are the risks? Are there simpler safer options? What happens if I do nothing?”
3. Medical schools should ensure that students develop a good understanding of risk alongside critical evaluation of the literature and transparent communication. Students should be taught about overuse of tests and interventions. Organisations responsible for postgraduate and continuing medical education should ensure that practising doctors receive the same education
4. Commissioners should consider a different payment incentive for doctors and hospitals.

The Lake Foundation is happy to see Choosing Wisely being introduced in the UK and we look forward to seeing this project develop over the next couple of years.

For more information read the BMJ article here

Ovarian cancer can be a very challenging cancer to diagnose at an early stage because the symptoms are hard to recognise as they are similar to a number of non-serious conditions and have been described by many as “vague” and “non-specific” symptoms. Additionally, unlike breast cervical and bowel cancer there is no national screening programme for women because there currently isn’t a test that is accurate, specific and sensitive enough to be used as a national screening test.  This means that the majority of patients are diagnosed with late stage disease which is hard to treat.

This week scientists have published very encouraging data from a large 14-year study that shows that a test based on determining a woman’s CA125 (a protein found in the blood) profile is effective at detecting ovarian cancer. In fact it was found to identify 86% of ovarian cancers. This data could mean that we are one step closer to a screening test for ovarian cancer. The full data from the trial will be published at the end of the year and will tell us whether this test actually detects ovarian cancer early enough to save lives.

One of the lead investigators in this trial Prof Usha Menon said:

“These results are therefore very encouraging. They show that use of an early detection strategy based on an individual’s CA125 profile significantly improved cancer detection compared to what we’ve seen in previous screening trials.”

If the full results at the end of the year show that lives were actually saved through earlier detection of ovarian cancer, this will be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the detection of ovarian cancer and would for the first time enable a significant improvement in survival rates.

May is National Walking Month and organisers, Living Streets, are encouraging the general public to get out of their car, get off public transport and walk everywhere in an effort to get more active this month.

You can get involved in this fun campaign by taking part in the many activities that are planned for this month such asWalk to School Week from 18^th to 22^nd May and Walk to Work Week from 11^th to 15^th May. They have lot of resources to get you started such as a carbon buster calculator, walking report cards, walking tips, posters, flyers and an events calendar. Visit their website for more information.

Get involved for a fun way to get some exercise and improve your health. #WalkThisMay!

An interesting two-week diet swap experiment has been carried out by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh showing the damage a Western diet can cause to our gut. This study recruited  20 volunteers from the USA and 20 from rural Africa and each group was asked to switch diets for two weeks. The African group were asked to eat more junk food (burgers and fries) whilst the American volunteers were asked to eat a low-fat, high-fibre diet. Even though the study was quite a short one the impact of the diet swap was quite significant with the American group showing less bowel inflammation while the African volunteer’s bowel health declined.

This was an interesting study demonstrating the power of our diet in affecting our health, and in this case our gut health and our  risk of developing bowel (colon) cancer with Dr Stephen O’Keefe, from the University of Pittsburgh, saying:

“In just two weeks, a change in diet from a Westernised composition to a traditional African high-fibre, low-fat diet reduced these biomarkers of cancer risk, indicating that it is likely never too late to modify the risk of colon cancer.”

Researchers from the University of Sheffield have published data from the Yorkshire Health Study which has found that obese people fall into one of six categories and to address obesity strategies should be tailored according to which group a person falls into.

The six obesity groups were identified as: young males who were heavy drinkers, middle aged individuals who were unhappy and anxious, older people who despite living with physical health conditions were happy, younger healthy females, older affluent healthy adults, and individuals with very poor health.

The lead researcher for this study, Dr Mark Green said:

“Our research showed that those in the groups that we identified are likely to need very different services, and will respond very differently to different health promotion policies.

“In the future, we hope that GPs will keep in mind these six groups when offering advice to their patients.”
Researchers explained that what would need to be done to address obesity in the different groups would be to encourage alcohol reduction in young males, while for middle aged individuals who are unhappy and anxious an intervention involving increasing exercise mixed with psycho-social counselling could be beneficial. Young healthy females may not need any intervention, researchers said, as their health problems would be corrected naturally on their own. For those in the poorest health group the study showed advice surrounding exercise may not be reasonable and much more modest goals may be needed. For the affluent healthy elderly weight loss could be a priority.

This study is useful as it helps us understand specific, effective steps that can be taken to tackle obesity.

A study published this week in JAMA has shown that vigorous physical activity is better for our health and enables us to outlive those that just take part in gentle or moderate exercise.

This was a large study including 204,542 people who were followed for just over six years. Researchers compared participants who took part in moderate exercise such as gentle swimming, housework and social tennis to participants who engaged in some vigorous activity such as jogging or aerobics. They found that the risk of premature death was 9 to 13 percent lower in those taking part in vigorous exercise.

As a result of their findings researchers concluded that “vigorous activities should be endorsed in clinical and public health activity guidelines to maximize the population benefits of physical activity.”

This study is useful as it helps us understand the type of exercise that we need to take part in to reap the maximum benefit. We encourage everyone to introduce some vigorous activity into their exercise plan.