Comorbid chronic diseases and cancer diagnosis: disease-specific effects and underlying mechanisms

Abstract

This is a repository copy of Comorbid chronic diseases and cancer diagnosis: disease-specific effects and underlying mechanisms.

The role of chronic conditions in influencing symptom attribution and anticipated help-seeking for potential lung cancer symptoms: a vignette-based study

“…Research in this area is lacking but it is becoming clear that comorbidities can sometimes facilitate and other times interfere with help-seeking, depending on symptom and comorbidity characteristics and previous healthcare experiences. 14 Intention to seek help was higher among those who have regular appointments in primary and secondary care. Regular appointments can increase a patient’s familiarity with healthcare services, which may in turn facilitate reporting of new symptoms.…”

“…This could lead to longer patient intervals with delays in cancer diagnoses, but the evidence is heterogeneous and dependent on the specific chronic condition and cancer site. 12 – 14 In the case of lung cancer symptoms, such as persistent cough, when patients have a pre-existing respiratory condition this could provide a plausible ‘alternative explanation’, with patients underestimating the need for prompt help-seeking. Small qualitative studies 10 , 15 , 16 and a survey retrospectively collecting information from patients with cancer 3 suggested a similar mechanism, but recall bias might have influenced the findings.…”

Comedications influence immune infiltration and pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer

“…In addition, we were not able to evaluate the respective roles of taxanes and anthracyclins in the drug interactions we evidenced, because most of BC patients received a sequential NAC regimen including anthracyclines first followed by taxanes, which represents the standard of care in the neoadjuvant setting. Second, no gold-standard method exists for measuring comorbidities in the context of cancer so far 69 It is known that complexities exist in both measuring comorbidity in cancer patients and evaluating their impact on patients' outcome. 69,70 Plus, the effects of chronic diseases on outcomes vary by condition and by cancer type 69 These pitfalls might limit the generalization of our findings to other cancer types.…”

“…Second, no gold-standard method exists for measuring comorbidities in the context of cancer so far 69 It is known that complexities exist in both measuring comorbidity in cancer patients and evaluating their impact on patients' outcome. 69,70 Plus, the effects of chronic diseases on outcomes vary by condition and by cancer type 69 These pitfalls might limit the generalization of our findings to other cancer types. Third, we did not adjust our statistical analyses for multiple testing.…”

Network and Systems Medicine: Position Paper of the European Collaboration on Science and Technology Action on Open Multiscale Systems Medicine

“…show strong comorbidities or co-occurrence with other diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and even neurodegenerative diseases, all major health problems of today's societies. [37][38][39] There is a challenging situation where, on one hand, there is a large progress in understanding the molecular players of disease stages and overlap with other diseases; whereas on the other hand, the inconsistencies from different studies and different populations leave the impression that we are indeed at the start. In this context, the objective of omics research within systems medicine is to study and understand regulatory mechanisms, identify corresponding specific biomarkers, and characterize their interaction within and between systems, 40 with the analysis of large sets of biological molecules, including genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and much more, in combination with methodologies from the computer and mathematical science.…”