As heart, kidney and metabolic health worsen, cancer risk may rise: Study
Stock image of doctor and patient. (Westend61/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As heart, kidney and metabolic problems progress to more advanced stages, a person’s risk of developing several cancers also rises sharply, a new study finds.
Cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome is a disorder that occurs when heart disease, kidney problems and metabolic issues including obesity and diabetes all happen together, according to the American Heart Association.
About one in three U.S. adults have at least three risk factors for CKM syndrome, the AHA says.
Researchers used a claims database in Japan that included individuals with available health check-up data and insurance claims between April 2014 and August 2023.
People diagnosed with stage 3 CKM syndrome at the start of the study were 25% more likely to be diagnosed with one of 16 different cancers four years later in comparison to those with early CKM syndrome, according to the study published Monday in the journal Circulation.
Those who were diagnosed with stage 4 CKM syndrome had a 30% increased likelihood of having a cancer diagnosis four years later. Those diagnosed with stage 1 or stage 2 of the condition had a less than 5% chance of cancer diagnosis in four years.
“The study findings suggest that it is important to consider not only cardiovascular disease risk, but also cancer risk in people with CKM syndrome,” Dr. Hidehiro Kaneko, the study’s lead author and associate professor in the department of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Tokyo in Japan, said in a press release.
The study results accounted for age, gender and lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol use and weight.
Individual symptoms such as high blood pressure are often used to determine certain cancer risks, but this study used a more patient-centered classification such as CKM syndrome staging as a predictor for certain cancers, according to the authors.
“CKM syndrome represents a complex interplay among the cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic systems, where dysfunction in one area may trigger or exacerbate dysfunction in others,” Kaneko said.
“Dysfunction in each of these systems is independently associated with cancer risk due to shared risk factors,” he continued. “This study suggests that the accumulation of risk factors within the framework of CKM syndrome may contribute to the development of various types of cancer.”
Because the study is a retrospective observational study, meaning it analyzes existing data, it can only speak to association between CKM syndrome and certain cancers, not causality.
Additionally, because the study was conducted in Japan, which has a very homogenous population, further research would be needed to replicate the results among the U.S. population, which is more diverse.
Psilocybin mushrooms stand ready for harvest in a humidified “fruiting chamber” in the basement of a private home on July 28, 2023 in Fairfield County, Connecticut. (John Moore/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Friday It’s issuing national priority vouchers to three companies to help fast-track the review of certain psychedelic medications.
The companies are studying psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder and methylone for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
These vouchers mean the FDA has 60 days to review the medications for approval.
“These medications have the potential to address the nation’s mental health crisis, including conditions like treatment-resistant depression, alcoholism and other serious mental health and substance abuse conditions,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in a press release.
“As this field moves forward, it is critical that their development is grounded in sound science and rigorous clinical evidence,” the statement continued. “We owe it to our nation’s veterans and all Americans who are suffering from these conditions to evaluate these potential therapies with urgency.”
The agency also announced it is allowing an early phase clinical study of noribogaine hydrochloride, the principal psychoactive substance of the drug ibogaine, to move forward following an Investigational New Drug submission.
This is the first time the FDA has allowed a clinical study in the U.S. of a derivative of ibogaine, which is derived from the African Tabernanthe iboga shrub, the press release said.
Noribogaine hydrochloride is being investigated as a potential treatment for alochol use disorder, according the FDA.
The FDA also said it intends “to release final guidance imminently to provide recommendations to sponsors developing these products” which will include recommendations for study design, data collection and patient monitoring.
“There is a growing recognition of the potential of psychedelic medications to address multiple different psychiatric conditions that are notoriously difficult to treat,” said Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “At the FDA we are showing our support of investigating the safety and efficacy of this class of drugs through today’s actions.”
The announcement comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order over the weekend directing the FDA to expedite its review of certain psychedelics.
The order aims to accelerate research and approval of psychedelic-based therapies to help treat mental health conditions including PTSD, depression and addiction.
Currently, there are no classic psychedelic drugs approved for routine psychiatric care in the U.S.
A multitude of studies have suggested that psychoactive drugs, including cannabis, ketamine, psilocybin and midomafetamine (MDMA), may help treat PTSD and other mental health disorders.
However, most of these drugs are classified as Schedule I, meaning they have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
A 24-person 2022 study from John Hopkins Medicine followed patients with moderate to severe major depressive disorder who received psilocybin-assisted treatment for up to a year. Psilocybin is the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms.
Researchers found antidepressant effects from psilocybin and supportive psychotherapy may last at least a year in some patients. Administration required close monitoring in a controlled setting with a trained provider.
MDMA has shown some early promise in treating PTSD. However, in June 2024, a panel of independent advisers for the FDA voted against recommending approval of pharmaceutical version of MDMA — along with therapy — to treat the condition.
The Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee appeared to have doubts about the safety and efficacy of the treatment, with the majority voting “no” on questions of data showing the drug is effective and that the benefits of MDMA outweigh the risks for the treatment of patients with PTSD.
Methylone is a synthetic stimulant related to MDMA that affects mood and energy but carries risks of addiction, heart strain, and other serious side effects.
ABC News’ Liz Neporent contributed to this report.
Dr. Casey Means, nominee for the medical director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and U.S. surgeon general, testifies at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on February 25, 2026 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s surgeon general nominee is appearing before the Senate on Wednesday for her confirmation hearing.
Dr. Casey Means was originally scheduled to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee in October, but it was postponed for four months after she went into labor.
If confirmed, Means would become the nation’s top doctor, leading more than 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service, including physicians, nurses, scientists and engineers working at various federal health agencies.
Means’ views largely mirror those of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with a focus on tackling the chronic disease epidemic, creating a healthier food supply and expressing vaccine skepticism.
Senators are expected to grill Means on her qualifications as well as her business endeavors. In prior filings, Means pledged that, if confirmed, she would resign from her position as an adviser for a wellness company and promised to stop working as an influencer promoting supplements and other wellness products.
“Dr. Means would clearly be an atypical or unusual person to serve in the role of surgeon general,” Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told ABC News. “Typically, the surgeon general has been viewed as the nation’s top doctor or America’s doctor, but Dr. Means has never practiced medicine, and so that is unusual. The part that’s not unusual is that the surgeon general’s impact is largely through influence. Dr. Means is skilled in this regard, when it comes to influence.”
Means graduated from Stanford School of Medicine in 2014 with plans to become an otolaryngology surgeon, also known as a head and neck surgeon, but she dropped out in her fifth year, according to her website.
Means went on to study functional medicine, which uses a holistic approach to prevent disease and illness by studying the root causes of health issues. The field has been criticized for promoting some interventions that are not evidence-based and for an overreliance on expensive supplements. Having never completed residency, Means is not board-certified in a medical specialty, and she does not hold an active medical license.
Over the course of her career, she co-founded Levels, an app that allows people to track their food, along with biometric data like sleep and glucose monitoring, to see how their diet is impacting their health.
Means wrote a book with her brother, Calley Means, titled “Good Energy,” which was published in May 2024 and claims to take a look at why Americans are sick and how to fix it.
The siblings rose to prominence within the Trump campaign in 2024 and among Trump allies, including Kennedy. They appeared at a September 2024 roundtable discussion on health with Kennedy hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc.
“The message I’m here to share and reiterate is that American health is getting destroyed,” Casey Means said during her opening remarks at the 2024 event. “It’s being destroyed because of chronic illness.”
Meanwhile, Calley Means currently serves as senior adviser for HHS. He has worked closely with Kennedy and has touted many of his health proposals. Calley Means has a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University and does not have medical training.
According to a copy of her prepared testimony for her original confirmation hearing in October, obtained by ABC News, Casey Means wrote that she would work to put “Americans back on the road toward wholeness and health.”
Like Kennedy, Casey Means has called for the removal of ultra-processed foods in school lunches and has advocated for organic foods and ingredients sourced from so-called regenerative farming practices in school meals.
In her “Good Energy” newsletter, she wrote that the U.S. needed to move away “from industrial agriculture that uses synthetic pesticides” in order to create “nutrient-rich food.”
“If she were to use the platform to truly work towards improving the school lunch program in America, that would be that would be terrific, because the Secretary talks a lot about nutrition, the importance of eating healthy food,” Besser said. “But if people can’t afford it, telling people to eat healthy food doesn’t lead to a healthier nation. and one of the ways that we could see big impact in that regard would be if the school lunch program were funded to the extent that every school could have a kitchen, and the people working in that kitchen could actually prepare real food, rather than handing out packaged food.”
While Casey Means’ nomination has received support from members of the administration, including Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, acting CDC acting director and head of the National Institutes of Health, others have expressed concern over some of her more controversial views.
On Tucker Carlson’s show in August 2024, Casey Means said birth control is being “prescribed like candy” and that Ozempic has a “stranglehold on the U.S. population.”
Means has expressed skepticism about the safety of childhood vaccines and has called for more research on the “safety of the cumulative effects” of vaccines when following the CDC vaccine schedule, she wrote in her newsletter.
“There is growing evidence that the total burden of the current extreme and growing vaccine schedule is causing health declines in vulnerable children. This needs to be investigated,” she continued.
Doctors and major medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, have said the previous childhood immunization schedule recommended by the CDC was safe and effective. The CDC recently changed the childhood immunization schedule, cutting the number of vaccines recommended for kids.
“I will be very eager to see whether the members of the health committee use this time to lift up concerns and to get Dr. Means’ perspective on the changes the Secretary has made to the vaccine system in America,” Besser said. “I’ll be interested to see if they ask Dr Means about her perspective on the changes that have taken place at CDC and the impact that these could have on health so that it’s clear coming in where she stands on the draconian cuts that the Secretary has made to our federal public health health system.”
Kennedy said on Monday he is “excited” for Casey Means’ confirmation hearing and that the health department has been waiting “a long time” for her to join the team.
“We’ve been waiting for a long time for Dr. Means to come on board,” Kennedy told ABC News on Monday at the department’s rare disease therapies event. “We are very, very excited about her coming on board. She has an extraordinary capacity to communicate to the American public — that is the function of the surgeon general.”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud and Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), during a healthcare affordability event in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Monday that his agency is working to address the recent hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, marking the first time he’s commented publicly on the Ebola outbreak since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed than an American had been infected with the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
“Yeah, we’re working on it,” Kennedy told ABC News when asked if he was worried about the outbreaks. The secretary’s comments come after the CDC said a “small number of Americans” are directly affected by the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
Kennedy did not respond when asked what his message might be to Americans who are concerned about the diseases potentially spreading in America. He told reporters in the Oval Office last week that the U.S. had the hantavirus outbreak “under control.”
“We have this under control and we’re not worried about it,” he said at the White House’s maternal healthcare event on May 11th. Kennedy also noted that the CDC has been working on the outbreak since day one.
The CDC said there have been no confirmed hantavirus cases in the U.S. linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship and 18 passengers remain under observation at the University of Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Kennedy’s brief comments about the outbreaks came following a roundtable event announcing nearly $1 billion in new funding to states to address PFAS in drinking water at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday.
The secretary has been on a midterm blitz recently, touting the administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement during stops including Ohio and California.
At a subsequent event featuring Kennedy and other health leaders at the White House, Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Heidi Overton stressed that “there are no cases of Ebola in America.”
Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Heidi Overton stressed during the event that “there are no cases of Ebola in America.”
“We want to keep it that way and we are doing everything we can to support Americans in the region,” Overton added.
