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.

Smoking and risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: analysis of the EPIC cohort.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Cigarette smoking has been reported as "probable" risk factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a poorly understood disease in terms of aetiology. The extensive longitudinal data of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) were used to evaluate age-specific mortality rates from ALS and the role of cigarette smoking on the risk of dying from ALS. METHODS: A total of 517,890 healthy subjects were included, resulting in 4,591,325 person-years. ALS cases were ascertained through death certificates. Cox hazard models were built to investigate the role of smoking on the risk of ALS, using packs/years and smoking duration to study dose-response. RESULTS: A total of 118 subjects died from ALS, resulting in a crude mortality rate of 2.69 per 100,000/year. Current smokers at recruitment had an almost two-fold increased risk of dying from ALS compared to never smokers (HR = 1.89, 95% C.I. 1.14-3.14), while former smokers at the time of enrollment had a 50% increased risk (HR = 1.48, 95% C.I. 0.94-2.32). The number of years spent smoking increased the risk of ALS (p for trend = 0.002). Those who smoked more than 33 years had more than a two-fold increased risk of ALS compared with never smokers (HR = 2.16, 95% C.I. 1.33-3.53). Conversely, the number of years since quitting smoking was associated with a decreased risk of ALS compared with continuing smoking. INTERPRETATION: These results strongly support the hypothesis of a role of cigarette smoking in aetiology of ALS. We hypothesize that this could occur through lipid peroxidation via formaldehyde exposure.

Circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of seven cancers: Mendelian randomisation study

Abstract: Objective: To determine if circulating concentrations of vitamin D are causally associated with risk of cancer. There is debate on whether vitamin D status is a cause of disease or just a correlate marker of overall health. Evidence from in-vitro and animal model studies supports an anti-neoplastic role of vitamin D, but epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials have yielded mixed results. Design: To overcome potential limitations in epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials, a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach was used. Participants and Setting: A total of 70,563 cancer cases and 84,418 controls were used from large genetic epidemiology networks, which consisted of 22,898 cases of prostate cancer, 15,748 cases of breast cancer, 12,537 cases of lung cancer, 11,488 cases of colorectal cancer, 4,369 cases of ovarian cancer, 1,896 cases of pancreatic cancer and 1,627 cases of neuroblastoma. Exposures: Four vitamin D associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs: rs2282679, rs10741657, rs12785878 and rs6013897) were used to define a multi-SNP score for circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations. Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcomes were the risk of incident colorectal, breast, prostate, ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancer, and neuroblastoma, which was evaluated using an inverse-variance weighted average of the SNP-specific associations and a likelihood-based approach. Secondary outcomes based on cancer subtypes by sex, anatomic location, stage and histology were also examined. Results: There was little evidence that the multi-SNP score of 25(OH)D was associated with risk of any of the seven cancers or their subtypes. Specifically, the odds ratios per 25 nmol/L increase in genetically-determined 25(OH)D concentrations were 0.92 (95% CI, 0.76-1.10) for colorectal cancer, 1.05 (95% CI, 0.89-1.24) for breast cancer, 0.89 (95% CI, 0.77-1.02) for prostate cancer, and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.87-1.23) for lung cancer. The results were consistent with the two different analytic approaches, and the study was powered to detect relative effect sizes of moderate magnitude (e.g., 1.20-1.50) per 25 nmol/L decrease in 25(OH)D for most primary cancer outcomes. The MR assumptions did not appear to be violated. Conclusions: Our results provide little evidence of a linear causal association between circulating vitamin D concentration and risk of colorectal, breast, prostate, ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancer, and neuroblastoma, but we cannot rule out existence of causal clinically relevant effects of low magnitude. These results, in combination with previous literature, provide evidence that population-wide screening for vitamin D deficiency and subsequent widespread vitamin D supplementation should not be recommended at this time as a primary cancer prevention strategy.

Associations between Burkitt lymphoma among children in Malawi and infection with HIV, EBV and malaria: results from a case-control study.

Abstract: Background: Burkitt lymphoma, a childhood cancer common in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, has been associated with Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) and malaria, but its association with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is not clear.Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted a case-control study of Burkitt lymphoma among children (aged <= 15 years) admitted to the pediatric oncology unit in Blantyre, Malawi between July 2005 and July 2006. Cases were 148 children diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma and controls were 104 children admitted with non-malignant conditions or cancers other than hematological malignancies and Kaposi sarcoma. Interviews were conducted and serological samples tested for antibodies against HIV, EBV and malaria. Odds ratios for Burkitt lymphoma were estimated using unconditional logistic regression adjusting for sex, age, and residential district. Cases had a mean age of 7.1 years and 60% were male. Cases were more likely than controls to be HIV positive (Odds ratio (OR)) = 12.4, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.3 to 116.2, p = 0.03). ORs for Burkitt lymphoma increased with increasing antibody titers against EBV (p = 0.001) and malaria (p = 0.01). Among HIV negative participants, cases were thirteen times more likely than controls to have raised levels of both EBV and malaria antibodies (OR = 13.2; 95% CI 3.8 to 46.6; p = 0.001). Reported use of mosquito nets was associated with a lower risk of Burkitt lymphoma (OR = 0.2, 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.9, p = 0.04).Conclusions: Our findings support prior evidence that EBV and malaria act jointly in the pathogenesis of Burkitt lymphoma, suggesting that malaria prevention may decrease the risk of Burkitt lymphoma. HIV may also play a role in the etiology of this childhood tumor.

Nutrients and gastric cancer risk. A population-based case-control study in Sweden

Abstract: A population-based case-control study of gastric cancer was conducted in areas with contrasting incidence rates in Sweden. Face-to-face interviews were carried out with 338 (74.1%) of all eligible cases and 679 (77.3%) of the selected controls. Consumption of selected nutrients during adolescence and 20 years prior to interview was estimated, together with life-time intake of vitamin supplements. Ascorbic acid and beta-carotene had an unequivocal protective effect, but alpha-tocopherol and nitrate were also negatively associated with gastric-cancer risk. In a multivariate analysis including all of these factors, only ascorbic acid remained a significant protective factor. The only macronutrient positively associated with the risk of gastric cancer was fat: intake 20 years prior to interview, but not during adolescence, was found to have a significant impact. Supplementation with vitamins almost halved the risk after adjustment for dietary intake of the corresponding vitamins. While the protective effect of vitamin C and beta-carotene could conceivably be ascribed to other agents in the diet, the strong negative association between supplementation with vitamin C and risk of gastric cancer supports the hypothesis of a protective role of this anti-oxidant.

Trends in mortality from major cancers in the European Union, including acceding countries, in 2004.

Abstract: BACKGROUND In May 2004, 10 additional countries joined the European Union (EU), including a total of 75 million inhabitants. Most of these were from central and eastern European countries with comparably high cancer mortality rates and with relatively unfavorable trends. Therefore, it is important to provide updated mortality data regarding major cancers in various countries and to analyze trends for the current population of the EU. METHODS The authors considered mortality rates (directly standardized to the world standard population) for all cancers and for 8 major cancer sites in the year 2000 in the 25 countries of the EU and analyzed corresponding trends since 1980 using data derived from the World Health Organization data base. RESULTS For men, overall cancer mortality in the year 2000 varied by a factor > 2 between the highest rate of 258.5 per 100,000 men in Hungary and the lowest rate of 122.0 per 100,000 men in Sweden. Central and Eastern European accession countries had the highest rates not only for lung and other tobacco-related cancers but also for gastrointestinal cancers and leukemias. The geographic pattern was different and the range of variation was smaller for women, i.e., between 136.7 per 100,000 women in Denmark and 76.4 per 100,000 women in Spain in the year 2000. In the EU as a whole, lung cancer mortality in men peaked at 55.4 per 100,000 men in 1988 and declined thereafter to 46.7 per 100,000 men in 2000. Gastric cancer steadily declined from 19.7 per 100,000 men in 1980 to 10.1 per 100,000 men in 2000. Other major sites showed moderately favorable trends over the last few years. In women, breast cancer peaked at 21.7 per 100,000 in 1989 and declined to 18.9 per 100,000 in 2000. Mortality from gastric, (cervix) uterus, and intestinal cancers demonstrated steady decreases, but lung cancer increased from 7.7 per 100,000 women in 1980 to 11.1 per 100,000 women in 2000. The increase in lung cancer mortality in women age < 55 years was 38% between 1990 and 2000 (from 2.16 per 100,000 women to 2.99 per 100,000 women), reflecting the spread of tobacco smoking among women in the EU over the last few decades. CONCLUSIONS The priority for further reduction of cancer mortality in the EU remains tobacco control together with more widespread availability of modern diagnostic and treatment procedures for neoplasms that are amenable to treatment. Cancer 2004. © 2004 American Cancer Society.