Colon cancer patients are 24 times more likely to die within 5 years if they had this habit before their diagnosis
Here's the bottom line — nearly 53,000 Americans are projected to die from colorectal cancer this year.
The overall five-year survival rate for the disease is around 65%. Several factors significantly influence prognosis, including the stage of the cancer at diagnosis, its location within the colon and the effectiveness of treatment.
A new study suggests that a popular habit may negatively affect colon cancer outcomes, significantly increasing the risk of death within five years of diagnosis.
Advertisement
The overall five-year survival rate for colorectal cancer is around 65%. Here, a colon cancer patient looks at her ostomy bag in the mirror.
Sheila – stock.adobe.com
'This study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that heavy cannabis use may have underrecognized impacts on the immune system, mental health and treatment behaviors,' said lead study author Raphael Cuomo, an associate professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
An estimated 17.7 million Americans reported using marijuana daily or nearly every day in 2022, a rise that correlates with the decriminalization and legalization of pot and increased societal acceptance.
Advertisement
About 30% of cannabis users meet the criteria for addiction.
Cuomo wanted to see how addiction impacts colon cancer survival.
He analyzed the electronic health records of nearly 1,100 colon cancer patients treated across the University of California Health system between 2012 and 2024.
An estimated 17.7 million Americans reported using marijuana daily or nearly every day in 2022, a rise that correlates with the decriminalization and legalization of pot and increased societal acceptance.
Yakobchuk Olena – stock.adobe.com
Advertisement
Patients who frequently used cannabis had a substantially higher five-year mortality rate (55.88 %) compared to those who didn't have the same habit (5.05 %).
Furthermore, those diagnosed with marijuana addiction before they were stricken with colon cancer were 24.4 times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis compared to their peers, Cuomo determined.
The findings were published online this month in the Annals of Epidemiology.
Advertisement
'This isn't about vilifying cannabis. It's about understanding the full range of its impacts, especially for people facing serious illnesses,' Cuomo said.
'We hope these findings encourage more research — and more nuanced conversations — about how cannabis interacts with cancer biology and care.'
Some studies suggest that cannabis may help cancer patients manage their symptoms and potentially even reduce tumor growth.
Cuomo noted that frequent cannabis use is often associated with depression, anxiety and other mental health struggles that may compromise a patient's ability to engage fully with cancer treatment.
'Socioeconomic disadvantage, stigma and competing health concerns may further limit access to timely, high-quality oncologic care among patients with [cannabis use disorder],' he wrote in the paper.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - We're cancer doctors. Here's why Medicare Advantage fails America's elderly.
'It's nothing,' Tom, a retired firefighter from rural Texas, thought when he had persistent stomach pain. After shedding 30 pounds in three weeks, his family physician ordered a CT scan. Tom was not concerned — after all, the 65-year-old had gotten Medicare Advantage earlier that year. Like millions, Tom switched his insurance after he was solicited by a broker who promised low premiums and a gift card. Absent from the sales pitch was the fact that Medicare Advantage plans — privately run and separate from government-funded traditional Medicare — often delay and deny coverage. One of us met Tom nearly three months after his CT scan, and his doctor discovered the abdominal mass. The job as the first oncologist he had been able to see after months of jumping through hoops was to get initial scans, identify an in-network provider, wait for further referral and approval processes and finally schedule and complete a biopsy. The delays became a death knell. Tom was diagnosed with Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. Tom's first question was, 'It's going to be fine, right?' Despite the urge to reassure him, Tom's life and treatment options were not up to a doctor. They were up to his insurance. The same insurance that delayed urgent testing and care. By definition, Medicare Advantage is meant to support elderly medical care and increase efficiencies; in function, it is a business model that allows the American government to decrease its liability for sick seniors. Instead of absorbing and managing costs, the responsibility is outsourced to third-party operators, such as UnitedHealth Group, Humana and CVS Health. While Medicare Advantage provides excellent coverage if you never get sick, this insurance can quickly become a precursor to medical bankruptcy if the patient develops a deadly disease, a highly probable outcome when you consider that nearly 40 percent of Americans get cancer in their lifetime. After nearly two decades of experimentation and $450 billion of taxpayer money, Medicare Advantage has proven porous in terms of corruption, fraud and abuse. Yet, 32.8 million elderly Americans (54 percent of the eligible Medicare population) are currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage. In 2023 alone, Medicare Advantage plans fully or partially denied 3.2 million prior authorization requests. No one, especially among folks facing the daily drudgery of fighting cancer, truly understands how the cogs within the insurance machine work. Few of our elderly patients fight the goliath institution, and many succumb to poorer health outcomes in their quest for lifesaving treatment. Last year, countrywide and across disease groups, 79 percent of patients who experienced a delay or denial of coverage paid out of pocket for medication at least sometimes. Unsurprisingly, more than 100 million Americans are in medical debt. Of those who appealed between 2019 and 2023, over 80 percent were approved, implying that the initial claims were valid. This game of attrition directly contradicts Medicare Advantage's promise to provide efficient, patient-centered healthcare. These denials are not just medically dangerous because they enable deadly diseases to progress unchecked. They are also emotionally erosive. Daily, we see patients shrink in the face of denials, unable to emotionally navigate the complex Medicare system and the immense pain, isolation and depression resulting from this behemoth that stands between their disease and their hope to be free of it. During one of Tom's chemo visits, with thousands of dollars worth of IVs in his veins, his skin pale and translucent, he realized he was begging his insurance at every turn to support him. Stories like Tom's reveal the truth: Medicare Advantage is unapologetically failing its elderly cancer patients. Sick American seniors deserve more than insurance coverage in name only. We advise our patients to avoid Medicare Advantage. The better choice is traditional Medicare, plus a secondary or supplemental insurance. Often, people do not enroll in supplemental insurance because they do not understand its importance, believe they will never get sick, miss the deadline for approval without a medical exam (you must do this within three months before or after your 65th birthday), or think it is too expensive. Although supplemental insurance costs nearly $500 a month (exact amounts vary based on age and income), choosing this add-on — and paying roughly $6,000 a year — is much more affordable than Medicare Advantage's yearly out-of-pocket (potentially adding up to $8,500) and fighting for approvals for basic treatment. On Medicare Advantage, Tom quickly reached his maximum yearly out-of-pocket of $8,500, but then it reset on Jan. 1. After four months of treatment, he was responsible for paying $17,000 for 16 months of care, on top of his insurance premiums, simply to receive standard care. Of course, if you are one of the fortunate few to have never experienced illness — and we hope you are — Medicare Advantage can be a cheaper option. The question is, how can we make Medicare Advantage advantageous for the vulnerable? There is a bipartisan opportunity to change the narrative around this insurance model. During his confirmation hearing as the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mehmet Oz criticized Medicare Advantage insurers for some of their practices. Strategic change — omitting out-of-pocket costs for cancer patients, curbing insurance companies' rights to deny claims submitted by doctors and speeding up the process — along with more rigorous oversight of the program are worthwhile goals the Trump administration and Congress should take on. While Democrats and Republicans disagree on many issues, we believe we can all agree that people like Tom — and the millions of other Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage — deserve comprehensive and just care. Dr. Pramod Pinnamaneni, MD, MBA, and Dr. Nitya Thummalachetty, DrPH, are founders of the Nau Project, a start-up dedicated to helping everyday Americans navigate the complexities of our healthcare system. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Murdoch's Paper Unloads on RFK Jr. Over Axing Vaccine Board
A Rupert Murdoch-owned paper ripped into Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday for gutting the nation's top vaccine advisory panel. The Wall Street Journal published a scathing op-ed a day after Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, announced the firing spree at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in the paper itself. The ACIP reports to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine efficacy. The Secretary of Health and Human Services said he was 'retiring' all 17 members of the advisory committee on vaccines in a 'bold step' to help restore 'public trust.' The move raised alarm bells at a time when health experts fear vaccine skepticism is fueling the nation's largest measles outbreak in around 25 years. 'Most of ACIP's members have received substantial funding from pharmaceutical companies, including those marketing vaccines,' Kennedy wrote, hinting at a plot to push vaccines on Americans. Murdoch's editorial board hit back: 'Mr. Kennedy's beef seems to be that the committee's members know something about vaccines and may have been involved in their research and development.' 'How does he define 'substantial'?' the board asked. The board noted that trial doctors get small payments, typically less than their salaries, from vaccine makers to assist with clinical trials. But 'these trials are double-blinded, meaning doctors don't know which volunteers receive the vaccine or placebo so there's no financial incentive to tilt the data in favor of manufacturers,' the board said. Any conflicts of interest among the committee were also 'honestly handled,' the board said. Kennedy said in a separate announcement that 'a clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.' 'ACIP new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas,' he added. Since joining the Trump administration in January, Kennedy, who is leading the Trump administration's 'Make America Healthy Again' initiative has doubled down on conspiracy theories around shots, including that the measles jab contain 'aborted fetus debris.' 'The MMR vaccine contains millions of particles that are derived from fetal tissue, millions of fragments of human DNA from aborted fetuses,' Kennedy told NBC News' Tom Llamas last month. Kennedy was referring to the combined Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine. Vaccines do not contain aborted fetuses, fetal cells, fetal DNA, or fetal debris, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The rubella component of the vaccine is developed from a fetal cell line known as WI-38 that originally came from the lung tissue of an elective abortion performed more than five decades ago. No new fetal issue has been used since, and cells used today are thousands of times removed from the original source. Health experts are alarmed by Kennedy's suggestions that the measles jab is unsafe, a claim which contradicts decades of research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization declared measles eliminated from the United States in 2000 due to the success of vaccination efforts. International travel and growing vaccine hesitancy are thought to be behind its resurgence. The American Medical Association has said Kennedy's decision to gut ACIP undermines 'trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives.' Kennedy wrote in his op-ed for the Journal that ACIP's new members 'won't directly work for the vaccine industry.' 'They will exercise independent judgment, refuse to serve as a rubber stamp, and foster a culture of critical inquiry—unafraid to ask hard questions.' ACIP is set to hold its next meeting on June 25 at the CDC's headquarters.
Boston Globe
30 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
RFK Jr. names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic
The new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include Dr. Robert Malone, the former mRNA researcher who emerged as a close adviser to Kennedy during the measles outbreak. Malone, who runs a wellness institute and a popular blog, rose to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he's promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up He has claimed that millions of Americans were hypnotized into taking the COVID-19 shots. He's even suggested that those vaccines cause a form of AIDS. He's downplayed deaths related to one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in years. Advertisement Other appointees include Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that pandemic shutdowns were causing irreparable harm. Dr. Cody Meissner, a former ACIP member, also was named. Advertisement Kennedy made the announcement in The committee, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations on how Food and Drug Administration-cleared vaccines should be used. The CDC's final recommendations are widely heeded by doctors and determine the scope of vaccination programs. Associated Press reporter Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.
