Selected Articles from This Issue

Filipino Americans constitute 12% and 4% of the respective populations of Hawaii and California, with a large proportion of immigrants experiencing increasing cancer rates. To explore the impact of migration or generational status on cancer incidence among individuals who self-reported as Filipino, Abe and colleagues analyzed 10,495 first, second, and third generation Filipino-Americans, with 375, 249 and 436 cases of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer, respectively. After adjusting for known risk factors, the third generation showed 54% higher risk of colorectal cancer among men, and 43% risk of breast cancer compared to the first generation. These results underscore the need to explore how changing risk factors such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, smoking, and alcohol consumption influence cancer risk.Detecting childhood cancer at an early stage is critical to survival, but which individual and community socioeconomic factors correlate with late-stage diagnosis is unclear. Using data from the Children’s Oncology Group’s large registry studies, Ou and colleagues examined late-stage diagnosis among Hodgkin lymphoma and rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) patients. Late-stage Hodgkin lymphoma correlated with Black race, uninsured status, and more segregated communities. Late-stage RMS correlated with bilingual households, communities with greater redlining, and lower access to child developmental resources. Multilevel interventions that address community deprivation are likely needed to accelerate childhood cancer diagnosis and improve outcomes.Long-term energy balance-related factors like body mass index (BMI) are linked to colorectal cancer risk, but their impact on colorectal cancer survival is unclear. Using colorectal cancer patients obtained from the prospective Netherlands Cohort Study, Offermans and colleagues explored associations between these long-term energy balance-related factors and survival and examined potential differences across metabolic Warburg-subtypes. Results showed that maintaining a healthy prediagnostic BMI may be beneficial for colorectal cancer survival. Moreover, associations between prediagnostic BMI, weight change, early-life energy restriction, height and colorectal cancer survival differed according to Warburg-subtype. Understanding the biological pathways involved in associations between energy balance-related factors and colorectal cancer survival could help refine prevention strategies in the future.This study by Zhang and colleagues is the first prospective study in individuals with cirrhosis to examine the associations of blood magnesium level with risk of incident hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and longitudinal changes in liver biomarkers. Based on a novel cohort of 1430 liver cirrhosis patients with expansive healthcare data, in a median follow-up period of 4.26 years, results showed that lower blood magnesium level is associated with higher HCC risk and a faster increase in the alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and bilirubin levels. Future studies should evaluate whether interventions to increase magnesium levels can mitigate HCC risk and improve prognosis in patients with liver cirrhosis.