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Topic: Smoking marijuana & Testicular Cancer (Read 908 times) |
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Fritz
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Smoking marijuana & Testicular Cancer
« on: 2009-02-11 22:41:27 » |
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[Fritz]May be time to rotate the boys and make sure they are okey 
source: insider medicine
author: Dr. Susan Sharma.
date: 2009.02.09
VIDEO: Marijuana Use May Increase Testicular Cancer Risk, Association Between Corticosteroids and Pneumonia, Pregnancy May Not Affect Breast Cancer Survival
(February 9, 2009 - Insidermedicine) From Seattle - According to a study in the journal Cancer, smoking marijuana may increase the risk of testicular cancer. In a study of over 1,300 men, researchers found that, compared to those who had never smoked marijuana, current users had a 70% increased risk of testicular cancer. The risk increased by 40% in men who smoked marijuana less than once a week and doubled in those who smoked it at least once a week
For Insidermedicine in 60, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.
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Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains -anon-
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the.bricoleur
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Re:Smoking marijuana & Testicular Cancer
« Reply #1 on: 2009-02-12 04:24:03 » |
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This is long odds ...
Approximately 8,000 men within the U.S. are diagnosed with testicular cancer annually.
Approximately 100 million cannabis users in the US.
Assume that all of the 8000 got the cancer because they were cannabis users, that is what, a chance of 1 in 12500 you will get cancer?
Fair odds, and we do not know how many of the 369 men were cannabis users, so odds are even longer than that ...
Anyone know how they arrived at 70% more likely?
-iolo
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Hermit
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Re:Smoking marijuana & Testicular Cancer
« Reply #2 on: 2009-02-12 08:03:56 » |
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Looks to me as if they used the standard medical statistics methodology and had multiple groups with various risk rates as well as a control group, derived independent statistics for each group and then calculated a risk curve showing a 40% to 100% incidence increase and derived an average risk intensifier based on the distribution.
While you are juggling statistics, it is worth noting that not all cannabis users are going to survive long enough to develop testicular cancer, especially as cannibis, tobacco and alcohol tend to appear as co-dependencies, particularly in those under 30, which contributes to a known and reasonably effective Darwinian filter (young males + psychoactive substances + vehicles = uninsurable risk) as well as the less Darwinianly effective lung and heart disease method of avoiding the troubles of an old age even on an adequate pension. This is also an example of why actuarial calculations tend to be more complex than straightforward medical risk.
What the result of this study implies is that current and previous male cannabis users of all persuasions (noting that ingestion does not appear to have been studied but tends to result in higher cannabinoid blood levels than smoking) should, like tobacco smokers, machinists, mechanics and wood workers, treat themselves as high risk subjects and have bi-annual oncological screening check-ups including testes (and as testes and prostate malignancies tend to have similar risk factors, I'd recommend checking both; particularly as other risk factors increase (over 50).
Kindest Regards
Hermit
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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the.bricoleur
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Re:Smoking marijuana & Testicular Cancer
« Reply #3 on: 2009-02-13 03:52:29 » |
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It’s not a controlled study, it’s a preliminary test of a hypothesis.
Quote:
Title:
“Association of Marijuana Use and the Incidence of Testicular Germ Cell Tumors”
Study Abstract:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121685776/abstract
Funded by:
National Institutes of Health; Grant Number: R01CA085914, NO1-PC-35142
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
National Institute on Drug Abuse; Grant Number: R37DA06668
CONCLUSIONS:
An association was observed between marijuana use and the occurrence of nonseminoma TGCTs. Additional studies of TGCTs will be needed to test this hypothesis, including molecular analyses of cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoid signaling, which may provide clues regarding the biologic mechanisms of TGCTs.Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.
Received: 4 August 2008; Revised: 29 September 2008; Accepted: 3 October 2008 [blog reply editor’s note: published to the web 2-10-08) |
And more:
Quote:http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/12802
Although the incidence of all testicular tumors has been increasing, the mechanism by which marijuana use may be particularly associated with nonseminomas is unknown.
The researcher noted they were able to interview only 67.5% and 52.2% of eligible cases and controls, which may have introduced a bias. In addition, they had to rely on self-reported use of marijuana, which is an illicit drug, and there was no central pathologic review.
Source reference:
Daling JR, et al “Association of marijuana use and the incidence of testicular germ cell tumors” Cancer 2009; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24159. |
I would be more concerned about my nuts if I wore tight pants than smoking cannabis.
-iolo
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Hermit
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Re:Smoking marijuana & Testicular Cancer
« Reply #4 on: 2009-02-13 09:02:24 » |
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From your link.
METHODS:
A population-based, case-control study of 369 men ages 18 to 44 years who were diagnosed with TGCT from January 1999 through January 2006 was conducted in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties in Washington State. The responses of these men to questions on their lifetime marijuana use were compared with the responses of 979 age-matched controls who resided in the same 3 counties during the case diagnosis period.
RESULTS:
Men with a TGCT were more likely to be current marijuana smokers at the reference date compared with controls (odds ratio [OR], 1.7; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.1-2.5). In analyses according to histologic type, most of the association between current marijuana use and TGCT was observed in men who had nonseminomas/mixed histology tumors (current use: OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.3-4.0). Age at first use among current users (age <18 years [OR, 2.8] vs age 18 years [OR, 1.3]) and frequency of use (daily or weekly [OR, 3.0] vs less than once per week [OR, 1.8]) appeared to modify the risk.
CONCLUSIONS:
An association was observed between marijuana use and the occurrence of nonseminoma TGCTs. Additional studies of TGCTs will be needed to test this hypothesis, including molecular analyses of cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoid signaling, which may provide clues regarding the biologic mechanisms of TGCTs. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.
Turning the above into English, they have a sufficient correlation to make the assertions they do, without a sufficiently strong operating path to explain how, why or if some other factor is actually the trigger.
And as previously stated, the standard methodology is to calculate risk per age cluster and then develop an average from the incidence curve.
Kindest Regards
Hermit
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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the.bricoleur
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Re:Smoking marijuana & Testicular Cancer
« Reply #5 on: 2009-02-13 12:39:05 » |
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Quote from: Hermit on 2009-02-13 09:02:24 Turning the above into English, they have a sufficient correlation to make the assertions they do, without a sufficiently strong operating path to explain how, why or if some other factor is actually the trigger.
And as previously stated, the standard methodology is to calculate risk per age cluster and then develop an average from the incidence curve. |
I am not disputing the conclusion, simply adding context. A 70% increase in the risk of nonseminoma GCT is still approximately less than a 1% risk, a figure reflected in the fact that, in the US, since the 70's cannabis use has increased significantly, whilst testicular cancer rates have risen nominally.
I would not alter the frequency of my check-ups due to this study. I am 33 and go annually.
-iolo
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