Saturday, January 21, 2006
SCRIPPS HOWARD
A MAJOR RESEARCH INITIATIVE INTO THE CAUSES OF BREAST CANCER IS IN NEED OF MORE LATINA VOLUNTEERS.
SISTER STUDY IS PART OF A NATIONAL, 10-YEAR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH STUDY LAUNCHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCE IN OCTOBER OF 2005.
RESEARCHERS ARE LOOKING AT HOW WOMEN'S GENES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT BOTH AT HOME AND AT WORK MAY INFLUENCE BREAST CANCER. BY STUDYING SISTERS WHO SHARE THE SAME GENES AND HAVE HAD SIMILAR EXPERIENCES AND ENVIRONMENTS, THEY CLAIM TO HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF LEARNING WHAT CAUSES THE DISEASE.
LOURDES SUAREZ, CANCER SURVIVOR AND RECRUITMENT COORDINATOR FOR LATINAS, SAYS RESEARCH ABOUT LATINAS WILL HELP EXPERTS LEARN WHETHER THERE ARE DIFFERENCES AMONG THE RACES, AGE GROUPS AND ETHNIC GROUPS REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF BREAST CANCER. NEAR 82 PER 100,000 HISPANIC WOMEN ARE AFFLICTED EVERY YEAR. BECAUSE OF HEALTH DISPARITIES, LATINAS ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO BE DIAGNOSED AT A LATER STAGE, ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL LATINA HEALTH ORGANIZATION IN WASHINGTON.
WOMEN WHO ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE STUDY MUST BE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 35-74, BE A BLOOD-RELATED SISTER TO SOMEONE WHO HAS BREAST CANCER AND HAVE NEVER HAD CANCER THEMSELVES. THOSE WHO ARE NOT ELIGIBLE ARE STILL ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE BY SPREADING THE WORD TO THE 50,000 WOMEN NEEDED UNTIL ENROLLMENT ENDS IN SEPTEMBER 2007.
HUNDREDS OF LATINAS ARE PARTICIPATING. HOWEVER, SUAREZ SAYS THEY'D LIKE TO SEE AT LEAST 2,500 LATINAS ENROLLED.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT (877) 4SISTER OR GO TO WWW.SISTERSTUDY.ORG OR WWW.ESTUDIODEHERMANAS.ORG.