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A new study suggests that a certain class of blood pressure drugs are beneficial for ovarian cancer patients. As research shows, survival rates are higher for women who use certain blood pressure medication as treatment for heart diseases.
Researchers have done a retrospective review of certain medical records and have found that ovarian cancer affected women who take beta blockers for heart disease also have longer survival rates, compared to those who don’t take the drugs.
The team of researchers has come up with the conclusions after analyzing a database of 1.425 women with the almost unbeatable cancer. They found that those who had taken a certain type of beta blocker lived more than 4 years longer on average, compared to those who hadn’t been prescribed the drug. Women usually take the beta blocker medicine to treat high blood pressure or another heart related problem, never as part of a certain cancer treatment.
As the study was retrospective and failed to fall under a randomized trial, further research is needed in order to determine whether the findings can be translated into a new imagined treatment for the disease.
However, this is a very insightful piece of information which will most probably find its way to better outcomes. More than 21.000 women in the US will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year only, as the cancer society estimates. Furthermore, 14.000 women will die from it and ovarian cancer becomes the fifth most deadly form of cancer among women. Recurrence rates are high as well and too few progress has been made in order to come up with treatment alternatives.
Ovarian cancer can appear due to extensive use of birth control pills, which, on the other hand, are beneficial in the fight against other types of cancer, such as endometrial cancer.
But most of all, cancer appears due to heightened levels of stress. Our society doesn’t allow for a peaceful lifestyle anymore, we are surrounded by deadlines, rush hours, meetings, overtime and lack of sleep and leisure moments. Our bodies are exposed to extreme pressure and sometimes they fail to provide all the necessary antibodies which could help us efficiently manage our health.
First thing we should take into account is our time management. In order to avoid stressful situations, we need to be in control of our time and not let it slip through our fingers, to ultimately cause inconsistencies in our daily routine and lead us on a pathway to stressful, sleepless nights.
Image Source: arizona.edu
