At the start of the decade in 2010, total cancer deaths numbered 8.29 million worldwide and new cancer cases were at 18.7 million; the counts by the end of the decade in 2019 represent increases of 20.9% and 26.3%, respectively.

The paper was published on December 30, 2021 in JAMA Oncology, and is part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019).

The researchers estimated cancer burden and trends globally for 204 countries and territories. They found that cancer was second behind only cardiovascular diseases in the number of deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and years of life lost (YLLs) among 22 groups of diseases and injuries globally in 2019. Within the total cancer burden, the five leading causes of cancer-related DALYs for both sexes combined were tracheal, bronchus, and lung (TBL) cancer; colon and rectum cancer; stomach cancer; breast cancer; and liver cancer. TBL cancer was the leading cause of cancer deaths in 119 countries and territories for males and 27 countries and territories for females.

Although the absolute burden of cancer increased in both deaths and new cases from 2010 to 2019, the global age-standardized mortality and incidence rates decreased by 5.9% and 1.1%, respectively. From a country perspective, the age-standardized mortality rate decreased in 131 countries and territories and the age-standardized incidence rate lessened in 75 countries and territories. The small percentage declines globally are promising, but the researchers caution that there may be setbacks in cancer care and outcomes due to COVID-19. The effects of the pandemic on cancer morbidity, mortality, and prevention and control efforts were not accounted for in this GBD study, which analyzed global cancer burden through 2019.

The authors also analyzed cancer burden based on Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite measure of income per capita, average years of education, and total fertility rate for people younger than 25 years of age.

While the global trend for age-standardized mortality and incidence rates is encouraging, the reduction in rates appears to be driven by higher SDI locations. For mortality, age-standardized rates decreased in the middle, middle-high, and high quintiles and increased in the low and low-middle quintiles. Similarly, for incidence, the age-standardized rates decreased in the high-middle and high quintiles — with the largest decrease in the high SDI quintile — while increasing in the low, low-middle, and middle SDI quintiles.

“Ensuring that global progress against cancer burden is equitable is crucial,” said Dr. Jonathan Kocarnik, lead author on the study and Research Scientist at IHME. “This will require efforts to reduce disparities in cancer prevention, treatment, and survival, and the incorporation of local needs and knowledge into tailored national cancer control plans.”

Dr. Kocarnik and his co-authors suggested that the larger increases in the lower SDI quintiles likely reflect ongoing epidemiological transitions, demographic shifts, and disparities in cancer prevention, care, and control. Even without accounting for the COVID-19 pandemic, the absolute burden of cancer is already growing substantially worldwide.

Some additional findings from the study:

• Breast cancer was the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among females worldwide, including for 119 countries.
• On a global scale, 96.9% of cancer-related DALYs, which is the sum of YLLs and years lived with disability, can be attributed to YLLs or premature death.
• Of the 22 groups of diseases and injuries in the GBD study, total cancer is the leading cause of DALYs for the high SDI quintile and among the top five causes of DALYs for three of the remaining four SDI quintiles.

The researchers, whose study was published Dec. 28 in Obstetrics & Gynecology, analyzed how anti-spike antibody levels in the mother’s blood and baby’s umbilical cord blood at delivery varied with the timing of prior vaccination in nearly 1,400 women and their babies.

They found that the levels of these antibodies at delivery tended to be higher when the initial vaccination course occurred in the third trimester. However, they also found that antibody levels at delivery are still comparably high, and probably still protective, when vaccination occurs in early pregnancy or even a few weeks before pregnancy — and a booster shot late in pregnancy can make those antibody levels much higher.

“Women often ask what is the best vaccination timing for the baby — our data suggest that it’s now,” said Dr. Malavika Prabhu, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine and an obstetrician and gynecologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant women. Prior studies suggest that COVID-19 tends to be more severe for women when they are pregnant, and increases the risks of preterm birth, stillbirth and other adverse outcomes for their babies. COVID-19 vaccination protects pregnant women from severe COVID-19, and elicits antibodies that cross the placenta to circulate in their babies’ blood after delivery. Studies of the commonly used vaccines so far have found no increased rate of adverse side effects for mothers or their babies.

Dr. Prabhu and her colleagues set up the new study to address the question of the best timing for COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. The analysis covered 1,359 pregnant women who reported vaccination against COVID-19, during or up to six weeks before pregnancy, and gave birth at NewYork-Presbyterian/Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns after 34 or more weeks of gestation.

They found that anti-spike antibodies were generally detectable at delivery, in maternal and cord blood, among all the fully vaccinated women, regardless of the timing of their first vaccine dose. Among women with no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection who received the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine, the levels of antibodies at delivery were lowest after pre-pregnancy or first trimester vaccination and highest after third trimester vaccination; however, the difference wasn’t large. There was no significant difference in anti-spike antibody levels by timing of vaccination among the relatively small number of women who received the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) single-dose vaccine.

Among vaccinated women who had a prior history of COVID-19 infection, anti-spike antibody levels at delivery in maternal and cord blood were moderately higher on average, and showed even less of a decline with earlier vaccination timing.

Twenty of the women reported having a booster dose in the third trimester, and they on average had still higher levels of anti-spike antibodies in maternal blood and in cord blood.

In women that did not receive a complete course of vaccination by time of birth, the levels of anti-spike antibodies in maternal blood and in cord blood were significantly lower than all other cohorts including the earliest vaccinated cohort.

The findings suggest that pregnant women should not delay COVID-19 vaccination until late pregnancy.

“The message here is that you can get vaccinated at any point during pregnancy and it is likely going to be beneficial to you and your baby at the time of birth — and of course by getting vaccinated early you will be protecting yourself and your baby throughout the pregnancy,” said first author Dr. Yawei Jenny Yang, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a pathologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

“These study results are consistent with what we see with other maternal vaccines such as flu and Tdap, which, when given during pregnancy, protect the mother and baby,” said senior author Dr. Laura Riley, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine and obstetrician and gynecologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The researchers now plan further studies to examine vaccine and booster effects under different maternal conditions, and in the context of the spread of the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The mother-child study conducted at the University of Turku and Turku University Hospital in Finland examined the connection between dietary intake and onset of gestational diabetes in 351 overweight or obese women.

The women’s nutrient intake was calculated from food diaries, on the basis of which two dietary patterns, a healthier and an unhealthier dietary pattern, were recognised. In addition, the overall quality of the diet in reference to that recommended was described with a diet quality index and the inflammatory potential with a dietary inflammatory index.

“Our research results show that following a healthy diet in early pregnancy reduces the risk of gestational diabetes, says first author,” Doctoral Candidate Lotta Pajunen from the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Turku.

Diet that increases body’s inflammation heightens the risk of gestational diabetes

The study also found that a higher dietary inflammatory index, meaning a diet that increases the low-grade inflammatory markers in the body was connected to an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, a higher consumption of fat and especially saturated fats was connected to gestational diabetes. This is of interest as the intake of saturated fats is known to increase the body’s inflammation.

Several methods were used in the study to examine the dietary intake in early pregnancy. These analyses revealed that a diet comprehensively promoting health is associated with a smaller risk of developing gestational diabetes.

“Eating vegetables, fruit, berries, and wholegrain products as well as unsaturated fats is particularly important. These nutrients and foods reduce inflammation in the body and therefore also the risk of gestational diabetes. Mothers who are overweight or obese already before the pregnancy would most likely benefit from dietary guidance in early pregnancy,” says Associate Professor in Nutrition Kirsi Laitinen from the University of Turku, the PI of the Early Nutrition and Health research group that conducted the study.

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Numerous studies have established obesity as a major risk factor for developing serious illness from an infection of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Obesity weakens the immune system, creates a chronic inflammatory state, and increases risk for cardiovascular disease, blood clots, and lung conditions. All of these conditions can complicate COVID-19.

The aim of this study was to examine whether a successful weight-loss intervention in patients with obesity prior to contracting COVID-19 could reduce the risk of developing a severe form of this disease.

“The research findings show that patients with obesity who achieved substantial and sustained weight loss with bariatric surgery prior to a COVID-19 infection reduced their risk of developing severe illness by 60 percent,” said Ali Aminian, M.D., lead author of the study and director of Cleveland Clinic’s Bariatric & Metabolic Institute. “Our study provides strong evidence that obesity is a modifiable risk factor for COVID-19 that can be improved through a successful weight-loss intervention.”

A total of 20,212 adult patients with obesity were included in this observational study. A group of 5,053 patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or greater who had weight-loss surgery between 2004 and 2017 were carefully matched 1:3 to non-surgical patients, resulting in 15,159 control patients. Compared with those in the non-surgical group, patients who had bariatric surgery lost 19% more body weight prior to March 1, 2020 (the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Cleveland).

After the COVID-19 outbreak, researchers looked at four COVID-19-related outcomes: rate of contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization, need for supplemental oxygen and severe disease (defined as a combination of ICU admission, need for mechanical ventilation or death).

Although the rate of contracting SARS-CoV-2 was similar between the groups (9.1% in the surgical group and 8.7% in the non-surgical group), participants in the weight-loss surgery group experienced much better outcomes after contracting COVID-19 compared with those in the non-surgical group. Researchers found that patients with prior weight loss surgery had a 49% lower risk of hospitalization, 63% lower risk of need for supplemental oxygen, and 60% lower risk of developing severe COVID-19.

Although the exact underlying mechanisms are not known, these data suggest that patients who underwent weight-loss surgery were healthier at the time of contracting a SARS-CoV-2 infection, which resulted in better clinical outcomes.

“Striking findings from the current study support the reversibility of the health consequences of obesity in the patients with COVID-19,” said the study’s senior author, Steven Nissen, M.D., Chief Academic Officer of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic. “This study suggests that an emphasis on weight loss as a public health strategy can improve outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic and future outbreaks or related infectious diseases. That is a very important finding considering that 40% of Americans have obesity. “

This study was funded by a research grant from Medtronic. Medtronic had no role in the design, conduct and publication of the study.

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The UK government recently selected four sites to develop multi-billion-pound CCS projects as part of its scheme to cut 20-30m tonnes of CO₂ per year by 2030 from heavy industry. Other countries have made similar carbon reduction commitments.

Depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs have a smaller (10%) storage potential compared to deep saline aquifers but are seen as a critical early opportunity in developing geological CO₂ storage technologies. Fortuitously, CO₂ has historically been injected into numerous depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs as a means of enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR). This provides a unique chance to evaluate the (bio)geochemical behaviour of injected carbon over engineering timescales.

‘CCS will be a key tool in our battle to avert climate change. Understanding how CCS works in practice, in addition tocomputer modelling and lab-based experiments, is essential to provide confidence in safe and secure CO₂ geologicalsequestration.’ Said Dr. Rebecca Tyne, Dept Earth Science, The University of Oxford

In a paper published, today in Nature, Dr. Rebecca Tyne and Prof. Chris Ballentine from Oxford University, lead a team of international collaborators to investigate the behaviour of CO₂ within a CO₂-EOR flooded oil field in Louisiana, USA. They compared (bio)geochemical composition of the CO₂-EOR flooded field with that of an adjacent field, which was never subjected to CO₂-EOR. Data suggest that up to 74% of CO₂ left behind by CO₂-EOR was dissolved in the groundwater. Unexpectedly, it also revealed, that microbial methanogenesis converted as much as 13-19% of the injected CO₂ to methane, which is a stronger greenhouse gas than CO₂.

This study is the first to integrate state of the art isotopic tracers (noble gas, clumped and stable isotope data) with microbiological data to investigate the fate of the injected CO₂.

‘Methane is less soluble, less compressible and less reactive than CO₂, so, if produced, the reduces the amount of CO₂ we can safely inject into these sites. However, now this process has been identified, we can take it into account in future CCS site selection.’ Said Prof. Chris Ballentine, Dept. Earth Sciences, The University of Oxford.

Additionally, the authors suggest that this process is occurring at other CO₂-rich natural gas fields and CO₂-EOR oil fields. Temperature is a critical consideration, and many CCS geological targets will be too deep and hot for microbesto operate. However, if CO₂ leaks from deeper hot systems into similar shallower colder geological structures, where microbes are present, this process could occur. This research is critical for identifying future CCS targets, establishing safe baseline conditions and long-term monitoring programs, which are essential for low-risk, long-term carbon storage.

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