Obesity crisis in gynecologic cancer
The journal Gynecologic Oncology, the official journal of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, is pleased to announce the launch of a special issue on gynecologic cancer prevention, treatment and survivorship in obese women. Working on the special issue, Guest Editors Dr Susan C. Modesitt (University of Virginia School of Medicine) and Dr Joan Walker (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center) brought together researchers studying the influence of obesity on all components of gynecologic cancer care.
"The overweight and obesity epidemic affects clinical practice," said Dr Modesitt. "Previous data published shows that 72% of women in the US now have a BMI of ≥ 25 kg/m2. We still do not truly understand which facet of obesity is carcinogenic and why only subsets of obese individuals develop cancer."
As the proportion of the population which is overweight increases, patients no longer perceive obesity to be either abnormal or a disease state. This makes it exceedingly difficult to convince patients of the need for behavioral change and has given rise to many of the research topics in the special issue, such as public health policy, cancer prevention, all-cause mortality, treatment strategies, translational research, and survivorship. Also published in the issue also reviews on the impact of obesity on traditional cancer treatment modalities like surgery and chemotherapy.
"As a nation, the United States needs to be concerned about the responsibilities of the medical system to manage morbidly obese women. We hope that this special issue stimulates discussion and further research to find the data which are necessary to improve our prevention, symptom management, supportive care, survivorship and cancer care delivery program," said Dr Walker.
The special issue is "Gynecologic Cancer Prevention, Treatment and Survivorship in Obese Women", Volume 133, Issue 1 (April 2014) of Gynecologic Oncology published by Elsevier. The special issue is now available online on ScienceDirect.
