Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology
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Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. · Oct 2005
Reliability and validity of a telephone questionnaire for estimating lifetime personal sun exposure in epidemiologic studies.
Our Australia-wide case-control study of ocular melanoma diagnosed in 1996 to 1997 needed a short telephone interview on sun exposure. We constructed one by examining data from 700 controls ages 40 to 64 years in the Geraldton Skin Cancer Survey in 1988; they had answered a "whole-of-life" questionnaire in a face-to-face interview. Sun exposure in their first 4 decade years of age best predicted their lifetime annual average sun exposure, so the shortened questionnaire asked about sun exposure in these 4 decade years only. ⋯ Agreement between simultaneous parallel measures of total exposure (nonworking + working day and recreational + occupational exposure) was slightly weaker and of nonworking day and recreational exposure much weaker. Occupational exposure in women was much less strongly correlated with total exposure than it was in men possibly because of their frequently combined work and family roles, which the questionnaires did not try to separate. Research is needed into how this might be done to improve sun exposure measurement in women.
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Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. · Sep 2005
Sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer in two prospective cohorts.
A history of diabetes mellitus and a diet high in glycemic load are both potential risk factors for pancreatic cancer. Sugar-sweetened soft drinks are a prevalent source of readily absorbable sugars and have been associated with an increased risk of obesity and diabetes. We investigated whether higher consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks increases the risk of pancreatic cancer. ⋯ Although soft drink consumption did not influence pancreatic cancer risk among men, consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks may be associated with a modest but significant increase in risk among women who have an underlying degree of insulin resistance.
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Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. · Sep 2005
Fruits and vegetables and ovarian cancer risk in a pooled analysis of 12 cohort studies.
Because fruits and vegetables are rich in bioactive compounds with potential cancer-preventive actions, increased consumption may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. Evidence on the association between fruit and vegetable intake and ovarian cancer risk has not been consistent. We analyzed and pooled the primary data from 12 prospective studies in North America and Europe. ⋯ Intakes of botanically defined fruit and vegetable groups and individual fruits and vegetables were also not associated with ovarian cancer risk. Associations for total fruits and vegetables were similar for different histologic types. These results suggest that fruit and vegetable consumption in adulthood has no important association with the risk of ovarian cancer.
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Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. · Aug 2005
Multicenter StudyIncreased risk of cancer among siblings of long-term childhood cancer survivors: a report from the childhood cancer survivor study.
We determined risk of cancer among first-degree relatives of 5-year survivors of childhood leukemia, lymphoma, central nervous system tumors, sarcomas, Wilms' tumor, and neuroblastoma. Subjects were 13,703 participants in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Family history was collected on 56,759 first-degree relatives using a self-reported questionnaire. ⋯ Parents had no increased risk (fathers' SIR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.7-0.8; mothers' SIR, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.9-1.0). Seventy percent of siblings' cancers developed in adulthood. These findings suggest that familial cancer syndromes may be revealed as this cohort and family members age and with accrual of more offspring and subjects with SMNs.
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Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. · Jun 2005
Diet and cancer: the disconnect between epidemiology and randomized clinical trials.
Dietary epidemiology has been highly successful in identifying the responsible agent in many diseases, including scurvy, pellagra, blindness, and spinal bifida. Case-control, cohort, and ecologic observational studies have consistently associated increased consumption of fruits and vegetables with a decreased risk for a wide variety of epithelial cancers and, in many cases, specific dietary components seem to decrease the risk for a wide array of epithelial cancers. Over time, there has been enthusiasm for one or another compounds, such as beta-carotene in the past and folate currently. ⋯ We need to be more critical in the design of large randomized trials based on observational epidemiology or analysis. Rules of evidence are frequently ignored or misunderstood although the limitations of observational epidemiology are analogous to the problems associated with discovery-based research and biomarker identification. We need to be much more self-critical in the important and critical assessment of dietary compounds and their role in cancer prevention given the very high appeal for this approach both within the lay and scientific communities.