Comparing cancer rates of European Jews who immigrated before or during World War II to those who left after the war ended, researchers have determined that exposure to the circumstances of the Holocaust may result in a higher risk for the development of cancer later in life.
A study team at the University of Haifa in Israel announced in the November issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that there is a definitive connection between Jewish survivors of World War II and cancer. Possible causes include the intense calorie deprivation suffered by many who spent time in hiding and had little to eat, and the high rate of smoking among those who suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome after the war and used cigarettes to relieve stress.
The study, which followed some 300,000 European Jews, concluded that men who were possibly exposed to the Holocaust had a 3.5 times greater risk of developing cancer later in life than those who weren’t exposed, while women who were potentially exposed suffered a 2.33 times greater risk. Where specific types of cancer are concerned, the report indicated that men who may have been exposed to the Holocaust are twice as likely to develop lung cancer as non-exposed males of the same age and ancestry, and women who were exposed have up to a 2.44 times greater risk of developing breast cancer.
The circumstances an individual encounters during his/her lifetime often have an impact on the person’s health as they age. For decades, men and women who worked in shipyards, factories, or in construction jobs where asbestos was used were potentially exposed to a toxic material that would sicken them later in life. Asbestos would infiltrate their lungs and eventually cause severe scarring or even tumors, resulting in diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma, a serious form of cancer that is traditionally hard to fight.
Mesothelioma, like some of the cancers suffered by Holocaust survivors, usually does not surface until up to 50 years after exposure occurs, leading to late diagnosis. The delayed detection of this aggressive cancer means mesothelioma treatment methods do little to combat the disease and most victims die within a year or two of diagnosis.
Researchers throughout the world have struggled to devise better and more successful treatments for mesothelioma. Hospitals like New York’s renowned Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have pioneered a number of new treatments for the disease, and Sloan Kettering mesothelioma doctors and researchers continuously participate in clinical trials and other studies that promise eventual new treatments for the disease.
