14 DAY TRIAL // A new, wide study found out that people with a history of cancer have 40% higher risks of suffering from memory impairment interfering with daily routine, than those who have not had cancer.
The survey was carried out by Pascal Jean-Pierre, PhD, M.P.H., assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, department of pediatrics, and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and his colleagues, who used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
They gathered information from sample of 9,819 people, aged 40 years and older, from different educational environments and racial-ethnic backgrounds, out of which 1,305 reported having had cancer or a history of cancer.
All study participants underwent a physical examination and answered to several questions, including “are you limited in any way because of difficulty remembering or because you experience periods of confusion?”
The results showed that 14% of participants with a cancer record suffered from memory impairment, unlike the 8% without cancer.
The researchers concluded that people with a history of cancer had 40% more risks of having memory problems than the others.
These results are the first from a nationwide sample of people who were diagnosed with different cancer types, and it goes the same way as the previous smaller studies on breast or prostate cancer.
Dr Jean-Pierre said that “the findings show that memory impairment in cancer patients is a national problem that we must pay special attention to.”
Even if science has not yeat come up with a treatment for memory impairment, patients can still receive help.
“One of the most important parts of cancer treatment is management of symptoms, such as impairments in attention, memory and fatigue, in order to improve a patient's quality of life,” he said.
“This study suggests these memory issues are more common than had been recognized before, and should be assessed in all patients with a history of cancer,” Jean-Pierre added.
The results of the study, according to the research, show that cancer is “a key independent predictor of memory problems in the sample studied.”
Jean-Pierre calls the condition 'cancer related cognitive dysfunction,' because he believes that it goes further than the 'chemobrain' label that has been associated to women treated with chemotherapy for their breast cancer, and who reported problems in cognitive function.
“These memory issues can be related to treatment, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapies, or to the tumor biology itself, which could change brain chemistry and neurobehavioral function,” Jean-Pierre said.
The results were presented at the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities.