For many young people, the risk of wrinkling is a bigger tanning deterrent than the risk of skin cancer. How's that for some misplaced worry?

Now if the wrinkle-worry gets these youngsters to stop tanning, then I'm happy. Still, it amazes me that warnings about skin cancer still are not taken seriously.

"We don't know for sure, but there's some suggestive evidence that young people are more influenced by thinking about themselves getting old faster, than thinking about themselves getting a skin cancer," says one doctor.

There is a new test that can identify potentially serious problems much earlier than the standard Pap smear, according to a recent large Danish study.

Think about this:

A new HPV test effectively checks women 40 and older for the virus that causes cervical cancer. The women who carry the virus are at significant risk for the disease and can truly benefit from this test. Women younger than 40 can still contract the virus but it tends to come and go and isn't as likely to lead to cancer. These under-40 women are sill better off receiving the standard Pap test, say researchers.

Source: Good Housekeeping, May 2007

Women sixty five and over with early stage breast cancer who do not have radiation after surgery may have an increased risk of a local recurrence or development of a new primary breast tumor.

Half of the women diagnosed with breast cancer are sixty five and over. Past studies have shown that older women are less likely to be offered chemotherapy, hormonal treatments or radiation. Young women are more likely to receive aggressive treatment for their breast cancer.

This study showed some important things:

1. Women in the study who had a lumpectomy without radiation were found to have an greater risk of a local recurrence.
2. Women in the study who received hormonal therapy and stayed on their treatment for the full five years had less of a recurrence rate than those who prematurely stopped the medication.

If you are over the age of sixty five and have been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of receiving radiation after surgery.

One in five postmenopausal women with estrogen-positive breast cancer do not take the newer chemoprevention hormone therapy aromatase inhibitor drugs to prevent recurrence as prescribed, according Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals researchers who conducted a study to determine drug usage.

Aromatase inhibitors, such as Anastrozole, have been shown to be an effective means of blocking estrogen that fuels cancer for women diagnosed with estrogen-positive breast cancer, and Dana Farber's Dr. Ann Partridge warns that, "Women may be compromising their care, and ultimately their survival, if they do not take these medications as recommended."

Despite warnings, a significant number of women are choosing to discontinue use and the researchers of this survey can only speculate as to the reasons why. Some of the reasons they believe play a role in the women's decision not to comply with recommended treatment are: fear of side effects, actual experience of side effects, cost of treatment, and negative health beliefs that treatment will not help.

From a personal insight, the most common reason I know of as to why women are not taking this medication, or discontinue usage, is the fact that these drugs do not have a long history of use, and one can only guess what the possible, and presently unknown, long-term side effects will end up being. While Dr. Partridge states without a shadow of a doubt that these new aromatase inhibitor drugs are effective in breast cancer recurrence, only time itself will remedy the hesitation and non-compliance.

Some of the aromatase inhibitors include Anastrozole (Arimidex), Letrozole (Femara), Exemestane (Aromasin) and Formestane (Lentaron). To learn more about aromatase inhibitors, visit the National Cancer Institute's aromatase inhibitors digest.

The earlier a cancer is detected, the greater the chances for cancer survival. One of the problems in surviving colon cancer is that people are reluctant to undergo colonoscopies, and therefore, colon cancer is not always detected in its earliest stages before symptoms develop.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine and EXACT Sciences Corporation are publishing study findings that show a DNA stool test can accurately predict colorectal cancer 88 percent of the time, regardless of where in the colon the cancer is located.

"This study confirms that stool-based DNA technologies can achieve high sensitivities for detecting colorectal cancer," stated Steven Itzkowitz, M.D., principal investigator and Professor and Associate Director of Gastroenterology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "For those individuals who are unwilling or unable to undergo colonoscopy, stool DNA testing offers a valuable and patient-friendly screening option. These results also underscore that as new markers and technologies are developed and validated, they can readily be incorporated into existing stool DNA tests to improve cancer detection and, ultimately, patient outcomes."

According to statistics, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. and more than half of the over 80 million people over the age of 50 have never been screened. I agree with the researchers who suggest that it is time to develop new non-invasive technologies for colorectal screening.

When I went to see my first oncologist she said to me "Your not 80 so your going to get aggressive treatment". I never understood why she had to say that. What if I was a healthy spunky 80 year old? Would I just be written off? I do know that some older women are getting the correct therapy for breast cancer but many of them are not according to a study conducted within six large managed care organizations.

According to the study if you are aged 75-79 you were three times more likely to receive non-standard primary therapy over women between the ages of 65 and 69. If you were above 80 years of age then you were almost six times more likely to receive non-standard care.

Older women were less likely to be offered chemotherapy and radiation treatments it seems just because of their age alone without taking into consideration the patients ability to tolerate the treatment.

If you are older than 75 years of age and are diagnosed with cancer I think its important that your physician discuss all treatment options available. The older age group should be treated like every other age group and have a personalized assessment of what the risks and benefits are if treatment is needed.

One of the commonly-prescribed drug treatments for men with prostate cancer, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH), might put them at risk for the development of diabetes or heart disease, according to a large observational study conducted by Harvard Medical School researchers.

Given by injection, this drug blocks the production of testosterone, a hormone that fuels prostate cancer. Because this treatment can be given for a prolonged period of time, researchers feel that doctors and prostate cancer patients should be made aware of the potential risks and weigh those against the benefit of treatment.

"Men with prostate cancer have high five-year survival rates, but they also have higher rates of non-cancer mortality than healthy men," says study author Dr Nancy Keating. For more information regarding this study, read Prostate Cancer Treatment Increases Risk of Diabetes and Heart Disease.

Some campaigns just make me sad. UK's Age Concern, a charity that works to promote the health and welfare of older citizens, has launched a campaign called Hungry To Be Heard because it seems nine of of ten nurses do not have time to make sure elderly patients are getting enough to eat during their stay in the hospital. As a result, over half of the elderly patients are at risk for malnutrition. As hospital patients, if the elderly are malnourished, they simply are not going to recover or heal as quickly; they are at greater risk for post-surgical complications and they suffer a higher rate of death.

No one is suggesting that men start taking aspirin for prostate health if they are not already taking aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for other reasons. However, Mayo Clinic researchers do say that men who are already taking a daily dose of aspirin might be enjoying a better level of prostate health. According to researchers, aspirin seems to prevent or delay an enlarged prostate that can lead to urinary difficulties such as frequent urination, trouble urinating, weak urine stream and an urgent need to urinate.

While the researchers cannot state why NSAIDs benefit prostate health for benign prostatic hyperplasia, previous research has indicated aspirin provides certain prostate cancer prevention benefits. Many older adults already take aspirin, or other NSAIDs, for heart health and arthritis, and taking aspirin now appears to offer another added benefit in prostate health for men. Aspirin is not without its downside. Researchers do warn that taking aspirin can lead to stomach ulcers. As with any drug, one has to weigh the risk against the benefit.

Sometimes drinking alcohol is healthy. And sometimes drinking alcohol is harmful. Studies show that one drink per day -- compared with no drinking at all -- can reduce a woman's risk for heart disease and stroke by 50 percent. And other research indicates that older women who drink moderately have better cognitive skills. But there are also downsides for women who drink even moderate amounts of alcohol.

Even as little as one-half drink per day increases the risk of breast cancer -- possibly because alcohol raises estrogen blood levels which can promote growth of breast tumors. Women are also more likely than men to become dependent on alcohol and to experience other consequences too -- including damage to the brain and other organs. One in 13 adults in the United States has a serious alcohol problem -- and at least six million of these adults are women. And because the risk for alcohol-related health issues increase with age, older women should be especially careful of their alcohol intake for the purpose of maintaining health and limiting the odds of a breast cancer diagnosis.

In the interest of balancing the healthful and harmful effects of alcohol, The Harvard Women's Health Watch suggests that women over the age of 65 limit themselves to one drink per day. Or less.

Researchers are suggesting not all men diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer need aggressive treatment, but may do just as well with a watchful waiting approach of periodic monitoring of the progression of their prostate cancer before medical action is taken.

When the records of 71,602 men diagnosed with localized or regional prostate cancer were evaluated, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor researchers concluded that over half of the men considered in the lower risk category who might have qualified for watchful waiting underwent immediate treatment instead.

The lower risk group would be men of any age at diagnosis with well-differentiated tumors or men 70 years or older at diagnosis with moderately differentiated tumors.

A reader left a comment the other day on the Cancer Blog post death by cancer dims outlook of promise, hope, survival. It was positive and supportive and inspiring -- and sad too. The reader shared that her mother passed away in February after a year-long battle with gallbladder cancer. She wrote that her mother handled her diagnosis, chemotherapy, transfusions, medications -- and her final days -- with true grace. And this is a big deal. Because there is not much information floating around on the topic of this cancer. So this woman didn't have much to cling to. Like I do. As a breast cancer survivor, I have mounds of resources at my disposal. I have books and magazines and websites and blogs that devote generous coverage to breast cancer. There are walks and runs and yard sales and fashion shows and other fundraisers that make breast cancer survivors the lucky recipients of extensive research and study. I see pink ribbons all over town and license plates on the roads and clothing and hats and even tennis shoes that promote breast cancer awareness. I could go on -- and on and on.

Gallbladder cancer is rare. So perhaps that's why there is not an abundance of information on the disease that has no known cause or test to detect its presence in the body. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 8,750 new cases of gallbladder cancer and bile duct cancer (excluding bile ducts within the liver) will be diagnosed in 2006 in the United States. And about 3,260 people will die of these cancers in 2006. Of these new cases and deaths, about half are due to gallbladder cancer, which affects predominantly women and those who are older than 65. Diagnosis of this cancer is difficult because symptoms do not often surface until the late stages when aggressive treatment becomes necessary. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are typical treatment tools, along with palliative therapy to help control or reduce symptoms. There are also drugs currently under study in the areas of both targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

It's good to know that gallbladder cancer is rare -- and that it takes far fewer lives than breast cancer and other diseases -- but for the unfortunate ones who are diagnosed with this life-threatening illness, the lack of information and resources is a truly an unfortunate side effect.

Scientists have determined that mouth cancer develops in two different ways which dictates the seriousness of the disease. This finding, revealed on Tuesday, could lead to better prevention and treatment. In laboratory experiments with healthy, early, and advanced cancer cells, researchers were able to pinpoint differences in the cells that determined the aggressiveness of the cancer. They found faults in the p53 gene, which stops damaged cells from dividing, and in the p16 gene, which helps regulate and prevent cancer from developing. Both changes are linked to more aggressive tumors. This is first-time evidence that some mouth cancer tumors are more aggressive than others and are unfortunately linked to poor patient survival.

Oral cancer typically stems from pre-cancerous lesions, changes, or patches in the mouth -- all of which are early signs of cancer. Recognizing which pre-cancerous changes are more likely to develop into aggressive tumors would allow doctors an insight that could help them prescribe the best treatment.

Smoking, use of chewing tobacco, and heavy alcohol consumption are the leading causes of mouth cancer. And smoking and drinking are a very dangerous combination. Like lung cancer, mouth cancer usually develops in people age 50 or older.

Double the hormone, double the risk. Or so says one study of older women who take hormone pills. When estrogen and testosterone are combined, women face twice the chance of getting breast cancer, according to a study of more than 70,000 nurses. This type of combination therapy may help with mood, libido, and bone density -- but the possible risk of breast cancer may just outweigh these benefits. These findings, published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, add to the evidence that certain types of hormone supplements -- like estrogen-progestin pills -- increase risk of breast cancer, strokes, and heart attacks in women. Other research points to a link between breast cancer and high natural levels of testosterone.

Women's natural levels of estrogen and testosterone decrease with menopause. Use of supplements has climbed over the past 24 years, perhaps putting more women at more risk. Estrogen-testosterone pills are sold under the brand names Estratest and Estratest H.S. and appear on a Washington-based advocacy group's "Worst Pills" list because of breast cancer risk.

Diahann Carroll, an actress who started her career back in the 50s, and Oscar nominee who has starred in such TV shows as Dynasty, will be reaching out to older women in an effort to raise breast cancer awareness and the breast cancer risks they face. Carroll, who was diagnosed at the age of 63, spoke with CBS The Early Show's Julie Chen about the shock of being diagnosed with breast cancer when she had no family history for the disease. At the time, she said she was much more concerned about preventing age-related diabetes and heart disease.

According to recent surveys, so are most postmenopausal women. The results of a new Harris Interactive survey of nearly 20,000 women revealed that only 37 percent of women 55 or older are concerned about developing breast cancer as they age. The findings also show that three out of every four women don't know that being over 50 is the greatest risk for developing breast cancer. In fact, most women believe that the greatest risk factors are having a family member with the disease and inherited genetic mutations.

Carroll has been hired by Eli Lilly as the spokesperson for the launch the Strength in Knowing: The Facts and Fiction of Breast Cancer Risk campaign and website created to educate postmenopausal women about the real breast cancer risk factors. In the new fall TV season, Carroll will become a part of Grey's Anatomy. She would not give Chen any details. You can watch The CBS The Early Show interview with Carroll here.