CHICAGO (CBS) – Researchers from the University of Illinois said they have discovered a possible link with aggressive lung cancer tumors and neighborhood violence, perhaps shedding new light on the impact stress has on the body.
Michael Smith knows all too well about the highs and lows of life on the South Side of Chicago. For more than twenty years, he has mentored youth in the community and led them on the path to success.
Despite the brave cause, violence has affected the way of life of many in the community.
“It’s been passed down from one generation to the next,” Smith said. “You know, trauma affects you in so many different ways. It creates that withdrawal.”
That kind of trauma and stress from living in a high-violence environment and its impact on health, particularly cancerous tissue, was the focus of the new University of Illinois study. Scientists have established a clear link between aggressive lung cancer tumors in patients and neighborhood violence.
The study found that black men living in Chicago zip codes, most of them on the South Side, where crime is rife, had significantly high levels of cortisol, the hormone that regulates the body’s stress response.
“We know that these hormones play an important role in the normal development of lung tissue, so that is why it makes some sense to look at this connection,” said Zeynep Madak Erdogan, the study’s lead researcher and professor of nutrition. science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois.
Madak Erdogan said the study was designed to address the higher incidence of lung cancer in black men than in white men. She discovered that their environment was a driving factor.
“This is just a normal part of our body, but when there’s constant stress from the environment, these stress hormones are released and they basically stay active,” she said.
Researchers suggested broadening guidelines for lung cancer screenings, which currently focus on a history of smoking. The new analysis fuels what scientists have long suspected: a clear link between health and stress.
