Cancer causes cells to divide uncontrollably. This can result in tumors, damage to the immune system, and other impairment that can be fatal. In the United States, an estimated 15.5 million people with a history of cancer were living as of January 1, 2016, according to a 2018 report from the American Cancer Society. In […]
https://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.png00adminhttps://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.pngadmin2021-11-29 19:07:532021-11-29 19:07:55What to know about cancer
Vaccines undergo particularly rigorous safety tests before receiving approval for use in the general population. However, no drug is guaranteed to be free from side effects, so what are the side effects that children receiving the COVID-19 vaccine may face? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5–11 years […]
https://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.png00adminhttps://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.pngadmin2021-11-22 19:53:482021-11-22 20:19:15COVID-19 vaccines for children: What are the side effects?
Cancer causes cells to divide uncontrollably. This can result in tumors, damage to the immune system, and other impairment that can be fatal. In the United States, an estimated 15.5 million people with a history of cancer were living as of January 1, 2016, according to a 2018 report from the American Cancer Society. In […]
https://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.png00adminhttps://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.pngadmin2021-11-29 19:07:532021-11-29 19:07:55What to know about cancer
Vaccines undergo particularly rigorous safety tests before receiving approval for use in the general population. However, no drug is guaranteed to be free from side effects, so what are the side effects that children receiving the COVID-19 vaccine may face? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5–11 years […]
https://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.png00adminhttps://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.pngadmin2021-11-22 19:53:482021-11-22 20:19:15COVID-19 vaccines for children: What are the side effects?
Cancer causes cells to divide uncontrollably. This can result in tumors, damage to the immune system, and other impairment that can be fatal.
In the United States, an estimated 15.5 million people with a history of cancer were living as of January 1, 2016, according to a 2018 report from the American Cancer Society.
In this article, we examine types of cancer, how the disease develops, and the many treatments that help improve the quality of life and survival rates.
What is cancer?
Cancer is a broad term. It describes the disease that results when cellular changes cause the uncontrolled growth and division of cells.
Some types of cancer cause rapid cell growth, while others cause cells to grow and divide at a slower rate.
Certain forms of cancer result in visible growths called tumors, while others, such as leukemia, do not.
Most of the body’s cells have specific functions and fixed lifespans. While it may sound like a bad thing, cell death is part of a natural and beneficial phenomenon called apoptosis.
A cell receives instructions to die so that the body can replace it with a newer cell that functions better. Cancerous cells lack the components that instruct them to stop dividing and to die.
As a result, they build up in the body, using oxygen and nutrients that would usually nourish other cells. Cancerous cells can form tumors, impair the immune system and cause other changes that prevent the body from functioning regularly.
Cancerous cells may appear in one area, then spread via the lymph nodes. These are clusters of immune cells located throughout the body.
Causes
There are many causes of cancer, and some are preventable.
For example, over 480,000 peopleTrusted Source die in the U.S. each year from smoking cigarettes, according to data reported in 2014.
In addition to smoking, risk factors for cancer include:
heavy alcohol consumption
excess body weight
physical inactivity
poor nutrition
Other causes of cancer are not preventable. Currently, the most significant unpreventable risk factor is age. According to the American Cancer Society, doctors in the U.S. diagnose 87 percent of cancer cases in people ages 50 years or older.
Is cancer genetic?
Genetic factors can contribute to the development of cancer.
A person’s genetic code tells their cells when to divide and expire. Changes in the genes can lead to faulty instructions, and cancer can result.
Genes also influence the cells’ production of proteins, and proteins carry many of the instructions for cellular growth and division.
Some genes change proteins that would usually repair damaged cells. This can lead to cancer. If a parent has these genes, they may pass on the altered instructions to their offspring.
Some genetic changes occur after birth, and factors such as smoking and sun exposure can increase the risk.
Other changes that can result in cancer take place in the chemical signals that determine how the body deploys, or “expresses” specific genes.
Finally, a person can inherit a predisposition for a type of cancer. A doctor may refer to this as having a hereditary cancer syndrome. Inherited genetic mutations significantly contribute to the development of 5–10 percent of cancer cases.
Treatments
The side effects of chemotherapy include hair loss. However, advances in treatment are improving the outlook for people with cancer.
Innovative research has fueled the development of new medications and treatment technologies.
Doctors usually prescribe treatments based on the type of cancer, its stage at diagnosis, and the person’s overall health.
Below are examples of approaches to cancer treatment:
Chemotherapy aims to kill cancerous cells with medications that target rapidly dividing cells. The drugs can also help shrink tumors, but the side effects can be severe.
Hormone therapy involves taking medications that change how certain hormones work or interfere with the body’s ability to produce them. When hormones play a significant role, as with prostate and breast cancers, this is a common approach.
Immunotherapy uses medications and other treatments to boost the immune system and encourage it to fight cancerous cells. Two examples of these treatments are checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell transfer.
Precision medicine, or personalized medicine, is a newer, developing approach. It involves using genetic testing to determine the best treatments for a person’s particular presentation of cancer. Researchers have yet to show that it can effectively treat all types of cancer, however.
Radiation therapy uses high-dose radiation to kill cancerous cells. Also, a doctor may recommend using radiation to shrink a tumor before surgery or reduce tumor-related symptoms.
Stem cell transplant can be especially beneficial for people with blood-related cancers, such as leukemia or lymphoma. It involves removing cells, such as red or white blood cells, that chemotherapy or radiation has destroyed. Lab technicians then strengthen the cells and put them back into the body.
Surgery is often a part of a treatment plan when a person has a cancerous tumor. Also, a surgeon may remove lymph nodes to reduce or prevent the disease’s spread.
Targeted therapies perform functions within cancerous cells to prevent them from multiplying. They can also boost the immune system. Two examples of these therapies are small-molecule drugs and monoclonal antibodies.
Doctors will often employ more than one type of treatment to maximize effectiveness.
Types
The most common type of cancer in the U.S. is breast cancer, followed by lung and prostate cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute, which excluded nonmelanoma skin cancers from these findings.
Each year, more than 40,000 people in the country receive a diagnosis of one of the following types of cancer:
bladder
colon and rectal
endometrial
kidney
leukemia
liver
melanoma
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
pancreatic
thyroid
Other forms are less common. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are over 100 types of cancer.
Cancer development and cell division
Doctors classify cancer by:
its location in the body
the tissues that it forms in
For example, sarcomas develop in bones or soft tissues, while carcinomas form in cells that cover internal or external surfaces in the body. Basal cell carcinomas develop in the skin, while adenocarcinomas can form in the breast.
When cancerous cells spread to other parts of the body, the medical term for this is metastasis.
A person can also have more than one type of cancer at a time.
Outlook
Improvements in cancer detection, increased awareness of the risks of smoking, and a drop in tobacco use have all contributed to a year-on-year decrease in the number of cancer diagnoses and deaths.
According to the American Cancer Society, the overall cancer death rate declined by 26 percent between 1991 and 2015.
When a person has cancer, the outlook will depend on whether the disease has spread and on its type, severity, and location.
Takeaway
Cancer causes cells to divide uncontrollably. It also prevents them from dying at the natural point in their life cycle.
Genetic factors and lifestyle choices, such as smoking, can contribute to the development of the disease. Several elements affect the ways that DNA communicates with cells and directs their division and death.
After nonmelanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common type in the U.S. However, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death.
Treatments are constantly improving. Examples of current methods include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Some people benefit from newer options, such as stem cell transplantation and precision medicine.
The diagnosis and death rates of cancer are dropping yearly.
Pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness. Female patient listening to doctor in medical office. Support people living with tumor illness.
https://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.png00adminhttps://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.pngadmin2021-11-29 19:07:532021-11-29 19:07:55What to know about cancer
Vaccines undergo particularly rigorous safety tests before receiving approval for use in the general population. However, no drug is guaranteed to be free from side effects, so what are the side effects that children receiving the COVID-19 vaccine may face?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5–11 years on October 29, 2021. According to a recent survey by KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor, just over one-quarter of parents of children in this age group are eager for their child to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
Although this may be surprising, other survey findings shed some light on the reasons behind this hesitancy: a fear of side effects.
Two-thirds of parents of children of this age said that they were worried that the COVID-19 vaccine would affect their children’s future fertility. So significant are these concerns that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently put out a video disputing any potential impact of the vaccine on puberty or fertility.
Vaccine hesitancy is not just over fears of an impact on fertility, however. Over three-quarters of parents reported that they were “very” or “somewhat” concerned that their child might experience serious side effects or that not enough is known about long-term effects from the COVID-19 vaccine.
So, what are the possible side effects?
What are children going to get?
In the same way that pharmaceutical companies raced to get the vaccine approved for adults, those companies have carried out trials to see if their vaccines are safe and effective in adolescents and children.
Speaking at an Independent SAGE briefing on November 5, 2021, Prof. Deenan Pillay — a professor of virology at University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom — said:
“There have been a number of trials. We are always concerned about the untoward effect of all medicines in children, and, of course, we can’t just extrapolate from data that [come] from adults to children. We have got to wait to ensure there is safety in children. And now that has happened.”
So far, mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have received approval in the U.S. for children over 12 years of age, with the Pfizer vaccine approved for 5–12-year-olds at the end of October 2021.
The European Medicines Agency announced that it would start investigating the safety of the vaccine in that age group on October 18, 2021.
Most countries offering vaccination to those over 12 years of age are offering the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, Reuters recently reported. A single dose of the Pfizer vaccine is available for those over 12 years old in the U.K., where the Moderna vaccine also has approval for this age group.
Pfizer has plans to trial the vaccine in children aged 6 months to 5 years, and Moderna has ongoing trials to test the safety and efficacy of vaccines in children under 12 years old.
Novavax is about to start a study of up to 3,000 adolescents aged 12–17 years across up to 75 sites in the United States. Johnson & Johnson has enrolled children as young as 12 years into existing trials, and AstraZeneca is planning on conducting trials of its vaccine in children as young as 6 years.
The vaccine with the most evidence to support its use so far is Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19.
However, the vaccine doses given to children over the age of 12 years and those under the age of 12 years differ. Pfizer released data from its phase 2 and 3 trials at the end of September 2021. The data suggest that the vaccine was safe in children aged 5–11 years.
Children under the age of 12 years will be offered 10 micrograms (mcg) of the vaccine. This is compared with 30 mcg of the vaccine, which is the amount given to children over the age of 12 years and adults. Experts hope that this lower dose could result in fewer side effects, as lower doses generally should.
Minor adverse reactions
Senior vice president of Pfizer Vaccine Clinical Research and Development, Dr. Bill Gruber, broke down the drug company’s data from its phase 2 and 3 trials at the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting on October 26, 2021.
He revealed that there were very few serious adverse events and no deaths during the phase 2 and 3 trials of children aged 5–12 years. He also explained that the side effects were similar to those that adults experience.
The most common side effects in children after their second dose of the vaccine — first dose reactions were less frequent — were fatigue and headache, with 39.4% and 28% of 5–12-year-olds experiencing those symptoms, respectively.
This is compared with 65.6% and 60.9% of adults. Of note were data showing that fever and chills experienced after the vaccine were lower among 5–12-year-olds than among 12–65-year-olds.
Just 6.5% of children aged 5–12 years experienced fever after vaccination, compared with 17.2% of those over 12 years. Also, just 9.8% of those aged 5–12 years experienced chills, compared with 40% of those over 12 years.
Due to existing concerns about the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis among adolescent and young adult males, the scientists took specific precautions during this trial, Dr. Gruber explained to the committee.
He said: “To enhance possible detection of the rare events of myocarditis in adolescents and young adults, should [they] occur, specific instructions were provided to be vigilant with symptoms and signs of myocarditis […]. No anaphylaxis, no myocarditis, and no appendicitis were reported.”
Myocarditis
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others are currently monitoring rates of myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle. This comes following reports in July 2021 that some teenage boys had received diagnoses of this condition after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, which those over 12 years of age have been able to receive since May 2021.
The CDC reports that males aged 12–29 years are most at risk of developing myocarditis.
It also states that although 687 cases of myocarditis following vaccination had been reported in under-30s in the U.S. between December 29, 2020, and June 11, 2021, healthcare professionals had given more than 52 million doses of the vaccine to people aged 12–30 years in total. So, this represents a very small risk.
However, there was still a discussion to be had over whether or not the risks of the vaccine, which were very small, outweighed the risks of developing COVID-19, which were also smaller for this section of the population than older adults.
One study, which has not yet undergone peer review, claimed that the risk of experiencing an adverse cardiac event following mRNA vaccination in males aged 16–17 years without any comorbidities was actually 3.5 times higher than the risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19. This was widely reported in August 2021.
Conversely, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine from October 6, 2021, reported findings from the Israeli Ministry of Health surveillance of the issue that seemed to prove a link between receipt of the Pfizer vaccine and myocarditis.
Data collected between December 20, 2020, and May 31, 2021, confirmed 136 cases of myocarditis after receipt of the Pfizer vaccine out of 5.12 million Israelis who had received two doses. Analysis suggests that the risk is highest after the second dose in male recipients aged 16–19 years, with a risk ratio of 1 in 6,637.
Study co-author Prof. Manfred Green, from the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Haifa in Israel, told Medical News Today in an interview:
“Myocarditis is more common in males and females, [and] there are all kinds of theories why […]. [In the study, we found that] it generally was a mild illness, a mild infection and a minor event requiring hospitalization, as people with myocarditis are almost always hospitalized for observation. They required […] very basic anti-inflammatory treatment to treat the inflammation. All were fine, they recovered well.”
Dr. Green sits on the committee due to decide whether or not to proceed with licensing vaccines for 5–12-year-olds in Israel on November 10, 2021. He pointed out that as the dose given to 5–12-year-olds is one-third that of the dose given to older children and adults, “it is expected [that] there will be [fewer] side effects and [fewer] adverse events.”
Medically vulnerable children
Much of the concern voiced about side effects from COVID-19 vaccines is over the risk they may pose to healthy children.
Meanwhile, children who have some preexisting conditions will be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and will benefit more from vaccination. So, what about them?
There have been few studies into these children, as children in these groups are few in number. However, one study that appears in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood found no problematic side effects in a group of 20 adolescents aged 12–15 years with neurological conditions.
Risk-benefit analysis
When evaluating the risks posed by possible side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, it is impossible to do so without considering the possible benefits — though these may be hard to discern for the individual.
An analysis that appeared in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine on November 1, 2021, suggests that the vaccination of 12–17-year-olds is most beneficial while infection rates remain high — which, of course, they do in many parts of the world.
The analysis suggests that if SARS-CoV-2 infections are as high as 1,000 per 100,000 people per week over 16 weeks, vaccination could avert 4,430 hospital admissions and 36 deaths over 16 weeks. It also suggests that thousands of cases of long COVID could be avoided, even if the rate of long COVID was as low as 4% in teenagers.
Speaking at an Independent SAGE briefing on November 5, 2021, author Prof. Christina Pagel — a professor of operational research at UCL — said:
“It became really clear that if you got to really high case rates, then it is massively beneficial, and so even though children of 5–11 are less likely than adolescents to get really sick at the current rates of infection, with 6% [with the infection] at the end of October [in the U.K.], it is almost certain to be beneficial… I would be really surprised if there [weren’t] a benefit to vaccinating 5–11-year-olds, and I am a bit concerned that some members of [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] are already saying ‘it’s too soon.’”
Getty Images
https://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.png00adminhttps://moreliaclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/FINAL-MORELIA-LOGO1.pngadmin2021-11-22 19:53:482021-11-22 20:19:15COVID-19 vaccines for children: What are the side effects?
