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Melissa Schwab
 

Holocaust survivors more prone
to cancer than others of their age

Jewishsightseeing.com, April 24, 2006
 

By Melissa Schwab

HAIFA —The death rate from cancer among Holocaust survivors who live in Israel is higher than among their contemporaries who made aliyah before WWII.  So asserts a new University of Haifa study, the first of its kind, which examined the incidence of cancer among Holocaust survivors in Israel .

The study was conducted by the University's School of Public Health . Survivors who were in their childhood during the Holocaust were found to be at a higher risk for cancer than those who were at an older age during the war. Additionally survival from cancer among Holocaust survivors was slightly lower than among cancer patients who did not go through the Holocaust.

The study, the most comprehensive of its kind that has been carried out in Israel , was conducted by Nani Vine Raviv under the guidance of Dr. Micah Brachne and Prof. Shai Linn from the School of Public Health at the University of Haifa and Irena Lifschitz of the Health Ministry's National Cancer Registry. Funded by the Israel Cancer Society, it was based on data on about two million Israelis of European origin.

The researchers compared the incidence of cancer among those born between 1920 and 1945 and who came to Israel after WWII (year of aliyah limited to before 1989) with those born between 1920 and 1939 and who came to Israel before the war (up to 1939). Data on cancer deaths came from the National Cancer Registry in the Department of Health.

The researchers found that the incidence of all cancers among male Holocaust survivors was 14% higher and 2.4 times more likely than among men who had immigrated to Israel before the war. Among women, in comparison, cancer was around 21% more prevalent and 2.3 times more likely among Holocaust survivors.

Similar findings were found with respect to specific cancers. Cancer of the large intestine was 9 times more likely among men and 2.25 times more likely among women who remained in Europe during the war, compared to those who immigrated to Israel before WWII. Female Holocaust survivors were 1.5 more likely to have breast cancer than were women who came to Israel before WWII.   The risk for women who were children during the war was twice as high compared to women who were adults during the war.

Dr. Micah Bracha, director of the National Cancer Registry in the Health Ministry and a senior lecturer at the School of Public Health at the University of Haifa: "As we know, life in the ghettos and the concentration camps in Europe during the time of the Holocaust was characterized mainly by serious crowding, general poverty, difficult surrounding environment, ongoing hunger, general malnutrition, a lack of different kinds of food, cold, fatigue and mental stress. The difficult conditions, and mostly the caloric limitations and lack of nutritional components, which the Holocaust survivors suffered from during the war years, are likely to be among the main causes of the findings."

Nami Vine Raviv, from the School of Public Health , added: "The study findings suggest that those who were in WWII at a young age—who were children between 1940 and 1945—were at a higher risk for becoming sick with cancer. The exposure to hunger and the lack of nutrition during childhood growth and adolescence, forces the body into a process of hastened growth, which exposes it to increased risk of development of cancer."

The researchers also found that the percentage of survival from cancer among Holocaust survivors was lower (by 5%-13%) in comparison to the survival rate among those of European origin who immigrated before the war.

The study findings led researchers to the conclusion that it was relatively unknown at the time that early discovery of cancer can save lives, increase the chance of recovery, and avoid extended pain. It is very important, they stress, that the Holocaust survivors themselves and their loved ones increase alertness by among other things, performing early detection exams for breast and large intestine cancer. These exams are offered free in the country's national health package, they pointed out. Today, 238,600 Holocaust survivors live in Israel .

Health care and home-came workers, too, they advise, should be on guard and encourage Holocaust survivors to take advantage of the different prevention programs available.

Schwab is an intern in the external relations department of the University of Haifa