International Agency for Research on Cancer

About: International Agency for Research on Cancer is a government organization based out in Lyon, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Cancer & Population. The organization has 2989 authors who have published 9010 publications receiving 929752 citations. The organization is also known as: IARC.

Alcohol accounts for a high proportion of premature mortality in central and eastern Europe

Abstract: BACKGROUND: There is a west-east mortality gradient in Europe, more pronounced in men The objective of this article was to quantify the contribution of alcohol use to the gap in premature adult mortality between three old (France, Sweden and United Kingdom) and four new (Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania and Poland) European Union (EU) member states for the year 2002 Russia was added as an external comparator METHODS: Exposure data were taken from surveys and per capita consumption records from the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alcohol Database Mortality data were taken from the WHO databank The risk relationships were taken from published meta-analyses and from the WHO Comparative Risk Assessment project Alcohol exposure and relative risk information was combined to derive alcohol-attributable fractions for relevant causes of premature mortality RESULTS: Alcohol consumption was responsible for 146% of all premature adult mortality in the eight countries, 173% in men and 80% in women This proportion was clearly higher in the new EU member states and Russia compared with the comparison countries from the old EU For men, Russia with 290 alcohol-attributable premature deaths per 10 000 population had a more than 10-fold higher rate compared with Sweden (27 deaths/10 000) For women, the ratio between Hungary (50 alcohol-attributable deaths/10 000) and Russia (47 deaths/10 000) compared with Sweden (05 deaths/10 000) was almost as high, but the rates were much lower The Czech Republic and Poland showed proportionally less alcohol-attributable premature mortality than the other new EU member states or Russia for both genders, which, however, was still higher than in any of the old EU member states CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol is a strong contributor to the health gap between western and central and eastern Europe, with both average volume of consumption and patterns of drinking contributing to burden of disease and injury Alcohol also contributes substantially to male-female differences in mortality and life expectancy However, there are feasible and cost-effective measures to reduce alcohol-related burden that should be implemented in central and eastern Europe Language: en

Ovarian cancer and smoking: individual participant meta-analysis including 28 114 women with ovarian cancer from 51 epidemiological studies

Abstract: Background Smoking has been linked to mucinous ovarian cancer, but its effects on other ovarian cancer subtypes and on overall ovarian cancer risk are unclear, and the findings from most studies with relevant data are unpublished To assess these associations, we review the published and unpublished evidence Methods Eligible epidemiological studies were identified by electronic searches, review articles, and discussions with colleagues Individual participant data for 28 114 women with and 94 942 without ovarian cancer from 51 epidemiological studies were analysed centrally, yielding adjusted relative risks (RRs) of ovarian cancer in smokers compared with never smokers Findings After exclusion of studies with hospital controls, in which smoking could have affected recruitment, overall ovarian cancer incidence was only slightly increased in current smokers compared with women who had never smoked (RR 106, 95% CI 101-111, p=001) Of 17 641 epithelial cancers with specified histology, 2314 (13%) were mucinous, 2360 (13%) endometrioid, 969 (5%) clear-cell, and 9086 (52%) serous Smoking-related risks varied substantially across these subtypes (p(heterogeneity)<00001) For mucinous cancers, incidence was increased in current versus never smokers (179, 95% CI 160-200, p<00001), but the increase was mainly in borderline malignant rather than in fully malignant tumours (225, 95% CI 191-265 vs 149, 128-173; p(heterogeneity)=001; almost half the mucinous tumours were only borderline malignant) Both endometrioid (081, 95% CI 072-092, p=0001) and clear-cell ovarian cancer risks (080, 95% CI 065-097, p=003) were reduced in current smokers, and there was no significant association for serous ovarian cancers (099, 95% CI 093-106, p=08) These associations did not vary significantly by 13 sociodemographic and personal characteristics of women including their body-mass index, parity, and use of alcohol, oral contraceptives, and menopausal hormone therapy Interpretation The excess of mucinous ovarian cancers in smokers, which is mainly of tumours of borderline malignancy, is roughly counterbalanced by the deficit of endometrioid and clear-cell ovarian cancers The substantial variation in smoking-related risks by tumour subtype is important for understanding ovarian carcinogenesis

TERT promoter mutations in primary and secondary glioblastomas.

Abstract: Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is up-regulated in a variety of human neoplasms. Mutations in the core promoter region of the TERT gene, which increases promoter activity, have been reported in melanomas and a variety of human neoplasms, including gliomas. In the present study, we screened for TERT promoter mutations by direct DNA sequencing in a population-based collection of 358 glioblastomas. TERT promoter mutations (C228T, C250T) were detected in 55 % glioblastomas analysed. Of these, 73 % had a C228T mutation, and 27 % had a C250T mutation; only one glioblastoma had both C228T and C250T mutations. TERT promoter mutations were significantly more frequent in primary (IDH1 wild-type) glioblastomas (187/322; 58 %) than in secondary (IDH1 mutated) glioblastomas (10/36, 28 %; P = 0.0056). They showed significant inverse correlations with IDH1 mutations (P = 0.0056) and TP53 mutations (P = 0.043), and a significant positive correlation with EGFR amplification (P = 0.048). Glioblastoma patients with TERT mutations showed a shorter survival than those without TERT mutations in univariate analysis (median, 9.3 vs. 10.5 months; P = 0.015) and multivariate analysis after adjusting for age and gender (HR 1.38, 95 % CI 1.01–1.88, P = 0.041). However, TERT mutations had no significant impact on patients’ survival in multivariate analysis after further adjusting for other genetic alterations, or when primary and secondary glioblastomas were separately analysed. These results suggest that the prognostic value of TERT mutations for poor survival is largely due to their inverse correlation with IDH1 mutations, which are a significant prognostic marker of better survival in patients with secondary glioblastomas.

Cigarette, Cigar, and Pipe Smoking and the Risk of Head and Neck Cancers: Pooled Analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium

Abstract: Cigar and pipe smoking are considered risk factors for head and neck cancers, but the magnitude of effect estimates for these products has been imprecisely estimated. By using pooled data from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium (comprising 13,935 cases and 18,691 controls in 19 studies from 1981 to 2007), we applied hierarchical logistic regression to more precisely estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking separately, compared with reference groups of those who had never smoked each single product. Odds ratios for cigar and pipe smoking were stratified by ever cigarette smoking. We also considered effect estimates of smoking a single product exclusively versus never having smoked any product (reference group). Among never cigarette smokers, the odds ratio for ever cigar smoking was 2.54 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.93, 3.34), and the odds ratio for ever pipe smoking was 2.08 (95% CI: 1.55, 2.81). These odds ratios increased with increasing frequency and duration of smoking (Ptrend ≤ 0.0001). Odds ratios for cigar and pipe smoking were not elevated among ever cigarette smokers. Head and neck cancer risk was elevated for those who reported exclusive cigar smoking (odds ratio = 3.49, 95% CI: 2.58, 4.73) or exclusive pipe smoking (odds ratio = 3.71, 95% CI: 2.59, 5.33). These results suggest that cigar and pipe smoking are independently associated with increased risk of head and neck cancers.

Age at Menarche in Relation to Adult Height The EPIC Study

Abstract: In the last two centuries, age at menarche has decreased in several European populations, whereas adult height has increased. It is unclear whether these trends have ceased in recent years or how age at menarche and height are related in individuals. In this study, the authors first investigated trends in age at menarche and adult height among 286,205 women from nine European countries by computing the mean age at menarche and height in 5-year birth cohorts, adjusted for differences in socioeconomic status. Second, the relation between age at menarche and height was estimated by linear regression models, adjusted for age at enrollment between 1992 and 1998 and socioeconomic status. Mean age at menarche decreased by 44 days per 5-year birth cohort (beta = -0.12, standard error = 0.002), varying from 18 days in the United Kingdom to 58 days in Spain and Germany. Women grew 0.29 cm taller per 5-year birth cohort (standard error = 0.007), varying from 0.42 cm in Italy to 0.98 cm in Denmark. Furthermore, women grew approximately 0.31 cm taller when menarche occurred 1 year later (range by country: 0.13-0.50 cm). Based on time trends, more recent birth cohorts have their menarche earlier and grow taller. However, women with earlier menarche reach a shorter adult height compared with women who have menarche at a later age.