Selected Articles from This Issue

The e-cigarette market is shifting toward higher nicotine products. This study by Dai and colleagues analyzed urinary biomarkers of exposure among exclusive adult e-cigarette users based on nicotine concentration levels using the nationally representative PATH Study Wave 5 (2018–2019) data. Results showed that e-cigarette users with nicotine-containing products had significantly higher levels of nicotine metabolites compared to non-nicotine vapers and non-tobacco users. Users of higher nicotine concentration e-cigarettes (1.8–4.9% and 5.0%+) exhibited greater exposure, although differences became insignificant after adjusting for covariates. The findings highlight the need for regulatory focus on nicotine content in e-cigarettes to manage nicotine exposure and mitigate potential health risks.Despite an EU recommendation for Helicobacter pylori test-and-treat, many countries have not implemented such interventions due to low overall gastric cancer incidence. Identifying high-risk groups could facilitate targeted prevention. In this study by Mülder and colleagues, data from the Netherlands Cancer Registry were linked to demographic data to investigate gastric cancer risk across immigrant and socioeconomic groups. First-generation immigrants had a significantly higher gastric cancer risk. Although lower socioeconomic status also increased risk, first-generation immigrants remained at high-risk even after controlling for socioeconomic status. Second-generation immigrants were not at higher risk. The benefits of targeted H. pylori test-and-treat in immigrant populations should be explored.While there is evidence of an increased risk of adverse breast cancer outcomes associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS), these relationships have not been well studied among less-common molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Loroña and colleagues conducted a prospective, population-based cohort study of women aged 20 to 69 diagnosed with three subtypes of breast cancer from 2004 to 2015 in the Seattle–Puget Sound region. MetS was associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality for all cases, and with a greater risk of recurrence and breast cancer-specific mortality for HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, underscoring the importance of managing comorbidities to prevent poor breast cancer outcomes.The COVID-19 pandemic and associated shutdowns disrupted healthcare access and resulted in decreased cancer screenings. Wang and colleagues analyzed California Cancer Registry data to assess shifts in late-stage (III–IV) diagnoses over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Late-stage diagnoses increased 5.2% overall between March 2020 and June 2020, disproportionately in Pacific Islander (+13.7%), Thai (+11.2%), Chinese (+8.1%), Native Hawaiian (+7.4%), Filipino (+6.6%), and uninsured (+7.4%) patients. Patients who were uninsured, living in lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods, and racial/ethnic minoritized populations had higher adjusted likelihood for late-stage diagnosis, indicating that these populations are more vulnerable to healthcare disruptions like the pandemic, and underscoring the need for structural interventions to improve cancer screening access in these populations.