The actual number of childhood cancer cases worldwide is nearly double the recorded number, a chilling new study finds. “Our model suggests that nearly one in two children with cancer are never diagnosed and may die untreated,” said study author Zachary Ward. He is a researcher at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. The study, published Feb. 26 in The Lancet Oncology, found records of 224,000 childhood cancer diagnoses worldwide in 2015. Researchers estimated the actual number at 397,000. Previous estimates have been based on data from cancer registries, but 60 percent of countries have no registry and those that do may cover only a small percentage of the population, the researchers explained. The new study makes predictions for childhood cancers in 200 countries. It estimates that undiagnosed cases could represent more than half the total in Africa, South Central Asia and the Pacific Islands. In North America and Europe, only 3 percent of childhood cancer cases are undiagnosed, the study authors said. If no improvements are made, about 2.9 million of 6.7 million new childhood cancer cases worldwide will go undiagnosed between 2015 and 2030, according to the report. Accurate estimates are essential for setting health care priorities, and planning for effective diagnosis and treatment of all kids with cancer, Ward said in a journal news release. “While underdiagnosis has been…  read on >

Feeling trapped behind a desk, a counter or on the factory floor does no favors for the mind. Now, research helps confirm that women with jobs that demand long hours may be more prone to depression. Researchers found that compared with women who worked a standard 40-hour week, those who were on the clock 55 hours or more typically reported more depression symptoms. The same was true of women and men who usually worked weekends as well as weekdays. The findings, based on thousands of British adults, do not prove that long work hours were the culprit. “Workers are complicated creatures,” said lead researcher Gillian Weston, of University College London. “And it’s not possible to [account for] every potential influence when looking for associations in an observational study.” Still, she said, her team was able to factor out a number of factors that affect depression risk — such as income and education, and whether people were married or had children. And still, long work weeks remained linked to a higher risk of depression symptoms. The findings have implications in a world where people are increasingly expected to work outside the traditional 9-to-5 window, according to Weston’s team. Theresa Nguyen is a licensed clinical social worker and vice president of policy and programs for the nonprofit Mental Health America. She said that in recent years technology…  read on >

Is forgive and forget always the right approach after hurtful behavior from your spouse or significant other? Research done at the University of North Carolina suggests it could actually set up a pattern of continued bad behavior, one in which you forgive and your spouse forgets the mistake and does it again. Researchers evaluated a quality they call agreeableness and looked at the variations that could exist in a relationship: Both partners rank high in agreeableness; both rank low; or one partner is high and the other low. People with a high level of agreeableness tend to put their relationship before themselves. If they do something hurtful and are forgiven, they tend not to repeat that behavior — they feel it’s only right to reciprocate with kindness. People with a low level of agreeableness are more focused on themselves and more likely to repeat the hurtful behavior after being forgiven. They interpret a lack of sustained anger from their partner as a sign that their behavior wasn’t bad enough to stop — that they have his or her unspoken permission to keep acting the same way. If your partner keeps repeating something that bothers you, consider where you each are on the agreeableness scale. Do you both believe in quick forgiveness? Do you both get angry after a breach? Or do you each react differently?…  read on >

Obesity and severe obesity have been added to the list of conditions that put children and teens at increased risk for early heart disease. So says a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA). “Parents need to know that some medical conditions raise the chances of premature heart disease, but we are learning more every day about how lifestyle changes and medical therapies can lower their cardiovascular risk and help these children live their healthiest lives,” statement writing group chair Dr. Sarah de Ferranti said in an AHA news release. She is chief of the Division of Cardiology Outpatient Services at Boston Children’s Hospital. The latest statement is an update of a 2006 statement. Other conditions that increase the risk of early heart disease in children and teens include type 1 and type 2 diabetes, familial high cholesterol, congenital heart disease, and surviving childhood cancer. Severe obesity and obesity are now included as moderate-risk and at-risk conditions, respectively, because research shows they significantly increase the risk of heart disease later in life, according to the AHA. For example, a study of nearly 2.3 million people who were followed for over 40 years found that the risk of dying from heart disease was two to three times higher if they had been overweight or obese as teens. In general, a gradual approach to weight…  read on >