Showing papers by "Cancer Epidemiology Unit published in 1990"
TL;DR: In this article, the prevalence of IgG antibodies to H. pylori in plasma samples taken in 1983 from 1882 men, aged 35-64 years, in 46 rural counties of the People's Republic of China.
Abstract: To examine the geographic association between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer, we have assessed the prevalence of IgG antibodies to H. pylori in plasma samples taken in 1983 from 1882 men, aged 35-64 years, in 46 rural counties of the People's Republic of China. The gastric cancer mortality rates in these countries in 1973-75 varied from 3 per 1,000 (cumulative rate, 0-64 years) to 69 per 1,000, while the proportions of the population positive for H. pylori antibodies (based on an average of about 41 men per county) varied from 28% to 96%. After correction for the limited number of blood samples per county, the estimated correlation between H. pylori antibody prevalence and gastric cancer mortality was 40% (p = 0.02). No other type of cancer showed a significant association with H. pylori.
281 citations
TL;DR: Plasma concentrations of certain hormones linked to breast cancer risk were measured in age-pooled samples from 3,250 rural Chinese women in 65 counties, and 300 British women, all aged 35-64, and the difference in testosterone concentrations between the two countries appeared to be due largely to the lower average body weight in the Chinese women.
Abstract: Plasma concentrations of certain hormones linked to breast cancer risk were measured in age-pooled samples from 3,250 rural Chinese women in 65 counties, and 300 British women, all aged 35-64. In age-groups 35-44, 45-54 and 55-64 respectively, mean oestradiol concentrations were 36% (P = 0.043), 90% (P less than 0.001) and 171% (P = 0.001) higher in the British than in the Chinese women, and mean testosterone concentrations were 48% (P less than 0.001), 68% (P less than 0.001) and 53% (P = 0.001) higher in the British than in the Chinese women. The difference in testosterone concentrations between the two countries appeared to be due largely to the lower average body weight in the Chinese women. Sex hormone binding globulin did not differ significantly between the two countries in age groups 35-44 and 45-54, but was 15% (P = 0.002) lower in the British than in the Chinese women at ages 55-64. Prolactin concentrations did not differ significantly between the two countries in any age group.
198 citations
TL;DR: Mortality from leukaemia under age 25 was studied in British New Towns to test the hypothesis that leukaamia represents a rare response to a much commoner (but unrecognised) infection, the transmission of which is facilitated when large numbers of people come together.
192 citations
TL;DR: Both maternal and paternal smoking were associated with NHL: for paternal smoking, odds ratios were around 5, but without a correlation with number of cigarettes, and both maternal and maternal smoking habits were similar for ALL cases and controls.
Abstract: We report the results of a hospital-based, case-control study on acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), acute non-lymphocytic leukemia (AnLL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in childhood. The study was conducted from 1981 to 1984 in Turin (Italy). One hundred and forty-two children with ALL, 22 with AnLL and 19 with NHL were included, as well as 307 controls. Information on parental smoking habits, parental occupation, ionizing radiation and childhood diseases were collected using a standard questionnaire during a personal interview of the relative attending the child in the hospital. The odds ratios for antenatal diagnostic radiation were 1.1 (NS) for ALL and 2.4 (NS) for AnLL. No association was found with diseases in childhood. Paternal and maternal smoking habits were similar for ALL cases and controls. Both maternal and paternal smoking were associated with NHL: for paternal smoking, odds ratios were around 5, but without a correlation with number of cigarettes. Positive associations observed with maternal employment were: ALL with teacher and cleaner; AnLL and textile worker; NHL and baker. Corresponding association with paternal jobs were: ALL with clerks, farmers and employment in office equipment production; AnLL and workers in building, tire or textile industries; NHL and lorry drivers, workers in the building or in the wood and furniture industry.
138 citations
TL;DR: To obtain reliable information more rapidly than achieved before, a controlled trial between specialist liver transplant units is needed to establish the role of emergency hepatic transplantation in patients with fulminant hepatic failure.
83 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that a vegan diet causes a substantial increase in SHBG but has little effect on total or free T or on E2.
Abstract: Total testosterone (T), total oestradiol (E2) and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) concentrations were measured in plasma samples from fifty-one male vegans and fifty-seven omnivores of similar age. Free T concentration was estimated by calculation. In comparison with the omnivores, the vegans had 7% higher total T (P = 0.250), 23% higher SHBG (P = 0.001), 3% lower free T (P = 0.580), and 11% higher E2 (P = 0.194). In a subset of eighteen vegans and twenty-two omnivores for whom 4 d diet records were available, there were statistically significant correlations between T and polyunsaturated fatty acids (r 0.37), SHBG and fat (r 0.43 for total fat, 0.46 for saturated fatty acids and 0.33 for polyunsaturated fatty acids), and SHBG and alcohol (r-0.39). It is concluded that a vegan diet causes a substantial increase in SHBG but has little effect on total or free T or on E2.
78 citations
TL;DR: Overall malformation rates are similar to those in the country as a whole and there are, however, still insufficient numbers of children studied to draw firm conclusions about the risk of specific types of malformations.
Abstract: With the increasing practice of assisted conception, the health of the resulting children is becoming an increasingly important issue. Experience with four thousand children conceived by IVF or GIFT indicates that multiple pregnancy, which frequently results from assisted conception, is the main determinant of complications during pregnancy and of the health of the children at the time of birth. Overall malformation rates are similar to those in the country as a whole. There are, however, still insufficient numbers of children studied to draw firm conclusions about the risk of specific types of malformations. This will require the continued monitoring of children resulting from assisted conception, and the continued co-operation of many individuals and centres practising assisted conception.
65 citations
Journal Article•
47 citations
39 citations
TL;DR: The results of this study by Gardner et al are remarkable not because they offer little support for environmental contamination by radioactive discharges being the cause of childhood leukaemia but because they point to possible alternatives.
Abstract: The study of leukaemia and lymphoma in West Cumbria reported today (p 423) was commissioned by the Black inquiry into the raised incidence of childhood leukaemia in the village of Seascale near the nuclear plant Sellafield.' The risk of childhood leukaemia was found to be unrelated to various indices of environmental contamination from the Sellafield discharges, such as eating seafood or home grown vegetables or playing on the beach. But the risk was raised if the children's fathers had been employed at Sellafield, particularly if they had had relatively high exposures of radiation before the affected children were conceived. The numbers are small, but the effects are large. The fathers of nine (out of 46) cases and 41 (out of 277) local controls were working at Sellafield when the child was born; but four of the case fathers and three of the control fathers had accumulated exposures to 100 mSv or more of external radiation before the child was conceived. An exposure of 100 mSv or more was associated with a sixfold to eightfold increased risk of leukaemia in the offspring. There was evidence ofan increased risk at exposures lower than 100 mSv only when data for the six months before conception were considered, but the numbers were exceedingly small. When children with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were included with those with leukaemia the results were similar to those for leukaemia alone. By contrast, Hodgkin's disease showed no association with paternal exposure to radiation. Two control groups were selected-area controls, chosen to permit analysis of the geographical relationship of leukaemia to residence near Sellafield, and local controls, chosen to permit analysis of the relationship to parental occupation. Although each control group served a specific and different purpose the findings are similar regardless of which control group was used. Information for the study was collected by painstaking searching through birth and medical records, by examination of Sellafield employment records, and from postal surveys ofparents ofthe children. Much effort has gone into checking the information collected and making it as accurate and complete as possible (p 429), but with diagnoses dating from as early as 1950 it is inevitable that some data are missing, especially those derived from postal surveys. There are few missing values for paternal employment, and details were obtained from birth certificates and Sellafield employment records, so the data relating to work at Sellafield are likely to be reliable and unbiased. This study by Gardner and his colleagues' is the first to examine the relation between paternal employment in the nuclear industry and the risk of leukaemia in the offspring. Some comments seem appropriate at this stage even though the children of other nuclear workers need to be studied before firm conclusions can be drawn. Three separate inquiries into alleged increases of childhood leukaemia near different nuclear installations each concluded that there was a real excess but that the increases were too large to be accounted for by radioactive discharges from the plants.'13 Each report emphasised that alternative-but as yet unknown-pathways of exposure and mechanisms of carcinogenesis needed to be considered. The results of this study by Gardner et al are remarkable not because they offer little support for environmental contamination by radioactive discharges being the cause of childhood leukaemia but because they point to possible alternatives. According to Gardner et al fathers' employment at Sellafield is sufficient to account for the raised incidence of childhood leukaemia in the vicinity. Could paternal employment account for the raised incidence of childhood leukaemia near other plants? The relative risk of childhood leukaemia ranges from 1-4 near Aldermaston and Burghfield to 5 near Dounreay and 10 near Sellafield.1-' This range is incompatible with the cause being environmental exposure to radiation: if that were the cause ofthe childhood leukaemia the relative risks would need to vary more than 1000-fold, since the estimated annual exposure of newborn infants from radioactive discharges ranges from 00000 1 mSv at Aldermaston to 0 005 mSv at Dounreay and 0-3 mSv at Sellafield.3 The variation in occupational exposure at the plants is much less: the average in radiation workers ranges from 7 8 mSv at Aldermaston to 47-0 mSv at Dounreay and 124-0 mSv at Sellafield.Y6 Thus the range of occupational exposure and the different mix of nuclear and other workers in the surrounding community is not inconsistent with the range of leukaemia risks observed. The explanation offered by Gardner et al is not, however, without its problems. The only other relevant human data available are on the 7400 children of Japanese men who survived the atomic bomb explosions, and these show no hint of an increased risk of leukaemia in the offspring.7 And the average exposure to external ionising radiation of the Japanese men was four times higher than that of the Sellafield workers. Some additional explanation will still be required for the children of Sellafield workers. For example, it could be argued that exposure to high levels of radiation at work is a surrogate for exposure to something other than radiation which itself is powerfully leukaemogenic in the next genera-
37 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that the incidence of first hip fracture is not lower in breast cancer patients than in other women, and risk for trochanteric fracture decreased with increasing age at breast cancer diagnosis, reaching standardized incidence ratios close to unity after the age of 70 years.
Abstract: The authors investigated whether the incidence of first hip fracture, an indicator of osteoporosis, is lower in breast cancer patients, who are assumed to have higher levels of endogenous estrogens, than in other women. A population-based Swedish cohort comprising 9,673 women with invasive breast cancer diagnosed from 1958 through 1983 was followed up with respect to the occurrence of a first hip fracture during the period 1965-1983. Overall, the number of observed acute fractures (n = 387) was slightly higher than expected (n = 348.6) (standardized incidence ratio (SIR) = 1.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0-1.2). Risk for trochanteric fractures was slightly higher than expected (SIR = 1.2, 95% CI 1.0-1.4), but risk for cervical fractures was not (SIR = 1.0, 95% CI 0.9-1.1). Risk for trochanteric fracture decreased with increasing age at breast cancer diagnosis, reaching standardized incidence ratios close to unity after the age of 70 years. Duration of follow-up appeared to be unrelated to the risk of either type of fracture. The authors conclude that the incidence of first hip fracture is not lower in breast cancer patients than in other women.
TL;DR: The prevalence and characteristics of congenital pigmented lesions were documented in 1012 White caucasian newborn babies at a maternity hospital in Oxford, confirming the relatively low prevalence of this lesion.
Abstract: Melanocytic naevi (MN) are recognised risk factors for malignant melanoma but the epidemiology of MN is poorly understood. Some MN are present at birth and the study of congenital lesions is an important first step toward understanding the development of MN in early life. In this study, the prevalence and characteristics of congenital pigmented lesions were documented in 1012 White caucasian newborn babies at a maternity hospital in Oxford. Only 12 babies (1.2%) were found to have pigmented skin marks and each of these had only one lesion and no other abnormalities. MN were identified with certainty in only five babies (0.5% of the population; 95% CI, 0.06%-0.93%) thus confirming the relatively low prevalence of this lesion. Four of the MN were noted to be 'small' (less than 15 mm diameter) and all five were less than or equal to 20 mm in diameter. In other respects, the MN displayed a diversity of features. Of the other lesions there were two Mongolian blue spots, one melanocytic pustule, one 'probable' MN and three unusual skin marks where the diagnosis was uncertain but considered unlikely to be MN. During the course of the study, examinations were also carried out incidentally on 39 non-White babies. Twenty-two of these were noted to have Mongolian spots (57%) and three had other pigmented lesions (8%).
TL;DR: The purpose of the present paper is to describe the prevalence of obesity in the adult population of Sweden and results are based on cross-sectional data representative at the national level.
TL;DR: This study based on a representative national population sample provides the basis for generalization of the impact of social activity across the entire spectrum, including ethnic and urban-rural variations.
TL;DR: It was concluded that physiological increases in free fatty acid concentrations do not increase % free oestradiol and that free fatty acids are less important than SHBG concentration and perhaps other variables in determining differences between individuals in ostradiol binding to SHBG.
TL;DR: Mortality from all causes of death, all neoplasms, and all other known non-violent causes was lower than that expected from rates for all men in England and Wales, whereas mortality from accidents and violence was raised.
Abstract: The Registrar General's decennial supplements on occupational mortality provide only limited information on mortality in the armed forces in the United Kingdom. Mortality has therefore been studied among a group of 30,619 United Kingdom servicemen who served abroad in tropical or desert areas in the 1950s and 1960s, and who remained in the services for a total of at least five years. Mortality from all causes of death, all neoplasms, and all other known non-violent causes was lower than that expected from rates for all men in England and Wales, whereas mortality from accidents and violence was raised. These differences remained after adjustment for social class, affected both officers and other ranks, and had not disappeared even after the men had been followed up for at least 20 years. When mortality from 20 specific cancers and 10 other disease groups was examined there were significant excesses for cancers of the oesophagus (standardised mortality ratio (SMR) = 146; p = 0.03) and prostate (SMR = 156; p = 0.03), and significant deficits for cancers of the lung (SMR = 73; p less than 0.001), stomach (SMR = 66; p = 0.002), bladder (SMR = 53; p = 0.02), other specified neoplasms (SMR = 48; p = 0.001), coronary heart disease (SMR = 76; p less than 0.001), bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive lung disease (SMR = 42; p less than 0.001), and for five further groups of diseases unrelated to smoking or alcohol. Examination of mortality in each of the three services separately identified two specific hazards in the Royal Navy; seven deaths from mesothelioma occurred compared with less than 2.06 expected (p less than 0.005), and there was also an excess of neoplasms and of other diseases associated with alcohol (SMRs of 181 and 229; p = 0.002 and less than 0.001). Mortality from smoking related diseases other than those associated with alcohol was low in all three services, particularly among officers.
TL;DR: Investigations of specific hypotheses about defined sources of environmental contamination, especially if they can be replicated, are more likely to result in conclusive findings that are in-depth studies of individual clusters.
Abstract: A cluster of childhood leukemia in a village near a nuclear plant in northern England prompted further studies of cancer in the vicinity of other nuclear plants in the United Kingdom These studies demonstrated that the risk of childhood leukemia was increased near certain other nuclear plants Although the reasons for the increase are still unclear, the scientific debate stimulated by these findings has clarified some of the special methodological problems encountered when studying rare diseases in small areas Firstly, unless a specific hypothesis is defined in advance, the relevance of a single geographic cluster of disease can rarely be interpreted Even when a prior hypothesis exists, the small number of cases which generally occur in a small area make the findings highly sensitive to reporting, diagnostic, or classification errors The statistical power of such investigations is also usually low and only marked increases in risk can be detected Furthermore, conventional statistical tests may be inappropriate if the underlying spatial distribution of the disease is not random; and little is known about the background distribution of disease in small areas Investigations of specific hypotheses about defined sources of environmental contamination, especially if they can be replicated, are more likely to result in conclusive findings that are in-depth studies of individual clusters
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Over the last 10 years, calculated ultraviolet levels at Lauder have increased significantly, due to decreases in atmospheric ozone, and have implications for educational programmes relating to sun behavior and for future monitoring activities.
Abstract: The intensity of solar ultraviolet radiation (wavelength 307 nm) at ground level has been calculated using satellite measurements of atmospheric ozone. Ultraviolet levels in New Zealand are about 13% higher than those at similar latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Because of the clear atmosphere, peak daily summer irradiances may be only 50% less than those in tropical regions. From 35 degrees south (Auckland) to 45 degrees (Lauder, Central Otago), ultraviolet levels decrease by 5-10%. Peak ultraviolet irradiance in summer occurs at around 1330 local time. Over the last 10 years, calculated ultraviolet levels at Lauder have increased significantly, due to decreases in atmospheric ozone. These results are relevant to the high rates of skin cancer in New Zealand, and have implications for educational programmes relating to sun behavior and for future monitoring activities.
TL;DR: In this article, confirmatory observations from cross-sectional measurements in 460 women showed that the mean DHAS level was 21% lower (P = 0.005) and the mean DHA level was 32%lower (P < 0.001) in parous than in nulliparous women.
Abstract: A previous paper in this journal reported that first pregnancy was followed by a marked decrease in dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHAS) and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) levels. We report here confirmatory observations from cross-sectional measurements in 460 women. In premenopausal subjects (n = 306), the mean DHAS level was 21% lower (P = 0.005) and the mean DHA level was 32%lower (P < 0.001) in parous than in nulliparous women. Neither DHAS nor DHA was related to parity in postmenopausal women (n = 154).
TL;DR: In the Western society where obesity is a less desired condition it is natural that individuals may tend to report values of weight and height that they believe conform with current norms, which has found a reflection in estimation of body mass index.