Cancer Epidemiology Unit

About: Cancer Epidemiology Unit is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 669 authors who have published 1725 publications receiving 93979 citations.

The epidemiology of abdominal symptoms: prevalence and demographic characteristics in a Swedish adult population. A report from the Abdominal Symptom Study.

Abstract: The prevalence of abdominal symptoms was studied by means of a postal questionnaire sent to a representative sample (n = 1290) of the adult population of a Swedish municipality. The subjects were asked about the occurrence of 35 abdominal symptoms during the preceding 3 months. The participation rate was 89.6%, and 54.3% of the responders reported at least one discomforting abdominal symptom. The overall prevalence rate was significantly higher in women than in men, and the highest rate (75%) was found among young women. The average number of symptoms per individual was also significantly higher in women. The overall prevalence rate in women decreased significantly with age, irrespective of menopause. The prevalence of most individual symptoms decreased with age and/or was higher in women. However, the prevalence of symptoms indicative of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease did not vary with age or sex. The prevalence of symptoms usually regarded as ominous did not increase with age; in some instances it even decreased. With the exception of reflux symptoms and night pain, the apparent disappearance with increasing age implies that most of the complaints are of functional origin.

Dietary assessment in UK Biobank: an evaluation of the performance of the touchscreen dietary questionnaire

Abstract: UK Biobank is an open access prospective cohort of 500 000 men and women. Information on the frequency of consumption of main foods was collected at recruitment with a touchscreen questionnaire; prior to examining the associations between diet and disease, it is essential to evaluate the performance of the dietary touchscreen questionnaire. The objectives of the present paper are to: describe the repeatability of the touchscreen questionnaire in participants (n 20 348) who repeated the assessment centre visit approximately 4 years after recruitment, and compare the dietary touchscreen variables with mean intakes from participants (n 140 080) who completed at least one of the four web-based 24-h dietary assessments post-recruitment. For fish and meat items, 90 % or more of participants reported the same or adjacent category of intake at the repeat assessment visit; for vegetables and fruit, and for a derived partial fibre score (in fifths), 70 % or more of participants were classified into the same or adjacent category of intake (κweighted > 0·50 for all). Participants were also categorised based on their responses to the dietary touchscreen questionnaire at recruitment, and within each category the group mean intake of the same food group or nutrient from participants who had completed at least one web-based 24-h dietary assessment was calculated. The comparison showed that the dietary touchscreen variables, available on the full cohort, reliably rank participants according to intakes of the main food groups.

Longer mean colonoscopy withdrawal time is associated with increased adenoma detection: evidence from the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England

Abstract: Background and study aims: Increasing colonoscopy withdrawal time (CWT) is thought to be associated with increasing adenoma detection rate (ADR). Current English guidelines recommend a minimum CWT of 6 minutes. It is known that in the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme (BCSP) in England there is wide variation in CWT. The aim of this observational study was to examine the relationship between CWT and ADR. Patients and methods: The study examined data from 31 088 colonoscopies by 147 screening program colonoscopists. Colonoscopists were grouped in four levels of mean CWT ( Results: In colonoscopists with a mean CWT Conclusions: This study demonstrates that longer mean withdrawal times are associated with increasing adenoma detection, mainly of small or right-sided adenomas. However, beyond 10 minutes the increase in ADR is minimal. Mean withdrawal times longer than 6 minutes are not associated with increased detection of advanced adenomas. Withdrawal time remains an important quality metric of colonoscopy.

Clinical and Histopathologic Predictors of Survival in Patients With Malignant Melanoma: a Population-Based Study in Sweden

Abstract: Background Previous malignant melanoma studies regarding prognostic factors have often selected their patients from hospitals. Unfortunately, most of these studies have had small numbers of patients, consisted of short-term data sets, omitted important factors, did not optimize histopathologic classification, had too short or inadequate follow-up, and did not test their predictive models. Purpose Our study goals were to identify independent clinical and histopathologic determinants of survival in malignant melanoma, to analyze changes in prognostic value over follow-up time, and, finally to construct a prognostic index. Methods A random sample from the Swedish Cancer Registry of the records of 498 (246 men and 252 women) patients defined by gender, five 5-year time periods of diagnosis from 1960 through 1984, and five anatomic sites formed the cohort on whom data were analyzed by univariate analyses. Multivariate analyses were based on data on 476 patients with complete information about all variables. All patients in the cohort had complete follow-up through December 31, 1989. Clinical information was abstracted and recorded as: date of diagnosis, stage at diagnosis, sex, age, anatomic site of primary tumor, date of death, and cause of death. Histopathologic slides were re-examined and classified with regard to histogenetic type, level of invasion, tumor thickness, ulceration, vascular invasion, regression, lymphocytic reaction, pre-existing nevus, and cell type. Results All variables, except pre-existing nevus and cell type, were significant predictors of survival. In the multivariate analyses including all variables, women still had a significant, 33% lower relative hazard than men. The prognosis was poor in the youngest age group. Patients with external ear, scalp-neck, and trunk-located melanoma had increasing relative hazard when all variables were included. Regional metastases and tumor thickness remained independent prognostic factors. No significant association between histogenetic type or level of invasion persisted. Patients whose tumors showed ulceration or vascular invasion had lower relative hazard when all variables were included. Level of invasion, tumor thickness, ulceration, and vascular invasion were significantly associated with the prognosis during both short- and long-term follow-up. The patients were subgrouped according to percentage fractions of their score on the prognostic index. Survival curves for these groups of patients were well separated, thus identifying patients with a low or high risk of death from malignant melanoma. Conclusion The present population-based study identifies independent clinical and histopathologic predictors of survival in cutaneous malignant melanoma and emphasizes the role of histopathologic characteristics such as tumor thickness, ulceration, and vascular invasion besides anatomic site.