probably not the descrimination, but the stress caused by the descrimination if anything...only thing I can think of.
This does seem a bit like saying that those who buy a one kind of boot polish get cancer more than those who buy another kind. At best this study seems to offer those who like to complain about being discriminated against the opertunity to blame yet another thing on racism. It's worrying that money is wasted on studies like this when there are so many illnesses in the world that need money urgently spent on real research.
I am so f'ing tired of this "racial" stuff. We're constantly told we're all the same and equal, and then we get bombarded with races and the supposed differences between us... Amen 1... Racism, whilst a stupid thing to act upon (I mean, attacking/harassing someone solely for their colour or origin etc), is the new "she's a wiiiiiiiiiiiiitch!!!!!111". Amen 2... When are they going to do a study on breast cancer in women between the ages of 46 and 49, born in South West England but living in the South East, who mainly shop at Asda but at least once a month do visit Sainsbury's and/or Lidl? I'd be bloody interested in that, to be honest.
thats why i said it was the only thing I can think of also, stress reduces your immune system so theres more chance of getting sick, some sicknesses can cause cancer. It's all still being studied of course, you can't say it's a medical fact that stress = higher chance of illness/cancer, but there is definately a link.
Great, more crap biomedicine reporting. It's a fact. Everyone who ate pickles in 1854 is now dead. Think about it, and don't say I didn't warn you about this unknown danger.
Everyone who didn't eat pickles is now dead too! Oh **** we're onto something here. The great 1854 pickle conspiracy
Jesus, Mary, and ****ing Joseph! This coming on the heels of the "one night in a smoky pub could cause lung cancer" pib; What is it with reserchers these days? Are grants given out based on the stupidity of claims, or perhaps the persistance of ridiculous ideals? I mean come on! Let's make it nice and simple. Based on the data of the 1854 Pickles Conspiracy, all individuals thinking about cancer at some point in their life will cause a placebo effect, which will force some bodily cells to mutate into tumors. These tumors will then be the "cool" kids on the block - riding motorcycles and smoking cigarettes. And so more cells will want to be like them. But the cool cells only hang out in the best spots - like the brains stem or the lungs, so all other forms of cancer will be considered simple trickery. Leukemia? We think not! Science again prevails!
The problem is that correlation is not consequence. It is not even straightforward association. Before y'all lambast this study as a waste of time and align yourselves somewhere on the whole political correctness vs. racism debate again, I'd like you to cast a cool scientific eye on these study results. Go on, you can do it... The study followed 59,000 African-American women for six years. The risk of contracting breast cancer over that period, statistically, is 0.6%. So of this sample, 354 would get breast cancer. Now you have to do an analysis of the relative distribution of Felt More Discriminated (FMD) vs Felt Less Discriminated (FLD) women in both groups: the 354 that got cancer, and the 58646 that did not. You need to use the Wilcoxon (Mann-Whitney) test for that, as I think a t-test would not work well with such large group size differences. Even then, I suspect you do not get very valid results. There are of course about three or four (quite ordinary) mediating variables I can think of that explain this quizzical result. But for now I'll leave you to ponder the effect of socio-economic status on both discrimination experienced and access to health care, health awareness and lifestyle risk factors.
I heard this on the news this morning. Politicizing the results was very unwise, despite the scientific evidence. It's obvious that stress was an influence in being diagnosed with cancer for the study, but racism is one medium through which stress can be experienced, not a significantly-contributing factor; the correlation was very careless on their part.
I don't think they are. I don't even think they are pointing at stress specifically. As they said: further studies need to examine the connection.
That may be, but what is the standard deviation of the empirical mean? Don't really know what that means, just thought I'd hope somebody thinks I'm paying attention. But seriously, this is like the story of the socks that protect you from lions. It's dumb, but, do you see any lions in your house? Well the socks must be working then.
No, the study results (for a given value of statistical validity) make perfect sense. They are just misinterpreted. You have to ask yourself: "What have physical breast cancer risk factors and experienced discrimination have in common?" Answer: socio-economic status. Think about it: poor black people are less likely to be health aware and more likely to eat unhealthily, and smoke and drink too much compared to their wealthier counterparts; all factors associated with increased breast cancer risk. Poor black people are also more likely to experience discrimination than their wealthier counterparts. There may also be a straightforward genetic component: it is known that certain ethic groups are more susceptible to certain diseases. It is also known that coloured people with darker skin are more likely to be discriminated against (and, in fact, enjoy a lower income and less socio-economic success, linking back to previously mentioned lifestyle risk factors). I predict that one can also find a statistical connection between racial discrimination and risk of skin cancer.
That would be hypothesising. The researchers are simply reporting an observed pattern. They hypothesise some on the possible link between stress and cancer risk, but they say further research will have to be done to examine the reasons for the pattern observed.
*sigh* Just another case of statistical miss use to get "interesting" headlines. Sure, the numbers them self doesn't lie, but i guess there is some other connection than racism and breast cancer. (as Nexxo said)
