Objective To compute the burden of cancer attributable to current and former alcohol consumption in eight European countries based on direct relative risk estimates from a cohort study.Design ...Combination of prospective cohort study with representative population based data on alcohol exposure.Setting Eight countries (France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, Denmark) participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.Participants 109 118 men and 254 870 women, mainly aged 37-70.Main outcome measures Hazard rate ratios expressing the relative risk of cancer incidence for former and current alcohol consumption among EPIC participants. Hazard rate ratios combined with representative information on alcohol consumption to calculate alcohol attributable fractions of causally related cancers by country and sex. Partial alcohol attributable fractions for consumption higher than the recommended upper limit (two drinks a day for men with about 24 g alcohol, one for women with about 12 g alcohol) and the estimated total annual number of cases of alcohol attributable cancer.Results If we assume causality, among men and women, 10% (95% confidence interval 7 to 13%) and 3% (1 to 5%) of the incidence of total cancer was attributable to former and current alcohol consumption in the selected European countries. For selected cancers the figures were 44% (31 to 56%) and 25% (5 to 46%) for upper aerodigestive tract, 33% (11 to 54%) and 18% (−3 to 38%) for liver, 17% (10 to 25%) and 4% (−1 to 10%) for colorectal cancer for men and women, respectively, and 5.0% (2 to 8%) for female breast cancer. A substantial part of the alcohol attributable fraction in 2008 was associated with alcohol consumption higher than the recommended upper limit: 33 037 of 178 578 alcohol related cancer cases in men and 17 470 of 397 043 alcohol related cases in women.Conclusions In western Europe, an important proportion of cases of cancer can be attributable to alcohol consumption, especially consumption higher than the recommended upper limits. These data support current political efforts to reduce or to abstain from alcohol consumption to reduce the incidence of cancer.
Background
To date, no attempt has been made to systematically determine the apportionment of the hepatocellular carcinoma burden in Europe or North America among established risk factors.
Methods
...Using data collected from 1992 to 2006, which included 4 409 809 person-years in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC), we identified 125 case patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, of whom 115 were matched to 229 control subjects. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for the association of documented risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma with incidence of this disease and estimated their importance in this European cohort.
Results
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (OR = 9.10, 95% confidence interval CI = 2.10 to 39.50 and OR = 13.36, 95% CI = 4.11 to 43.45, respectively), obesity (OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.06 to 4.29), former or current smoking (OR = 1.98, 95% CI = 0.90 to 4.39 and OR = 4.55, 95% CI = 1.90 to 10.91, respectively), and heavy alcohol intake (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 0.73 to 4.27) were associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. Smoking contributed to almost half of all hepatocellular carcinomas (47.6%), whereas 13.2% and 20.9% were attributable to chronic HBV and HCV infection, respectively. Obesity and heavy alcohol intake contributed 16.1% and 10.2%, respectively. Almost two-thirds (65.7%, 95% CI = 50.6% to 79.3%) of hepatocellular carcinomas can be accounted for by exposure to at least one of these documented risk factors.
Conclusions
Smoking contributed to more hepatocellular carcinomas in this Europe-wide cohort than chronic HBV and HCV infections. Heavy alcohol consumption and obesity also contributed to sizeable fractions of this disease burden. These contributions may be underestimates because EPIC volunteers are likely to be more health conscious than the general population.
It is well established that parity and use of oral contraceptives reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, but the associations with other reproductive variables are less clear.
We examined the ...associations of oral contraceptive use and reproductive factors with ovarian cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Among 327,396 eligible women, 878 developed ovarian cancer over an average of 9 years. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazard models stratified by centre and age, and adjusted for smoking status, body mass index, unilateral ovariectomy, simple hysterectomy, menopausal hormone therapy, and mutually adjusted for age at menarche, age at menopause, number of full-term pregnancies and duration of oral contraceptive use.
Women who used oral contraceptives for 10 or more years had a significant 45% (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.41-0.75) lower risk compared with users of 1 year or less (P-trend, <0.01). Compared with nulliparous women, parous women had a 29% (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.59-0.87) lower risk, with an 8% reduction in risk for each additional pregnancy. A high age at menopause was associated with a higher risk of ovarian cancer (>52 vs ≤ 45 years: HR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.06-1.99; P-trend, 0.02). Age at menarche, age at first full-term pregnancy, incomplete pregnancies and breastfeeding were not associated with risk.
This study shows a strong protective association of oral contraceptives and parity with ovarian cancer risk, a higher risk with a late age at menopause, and no association with other reproductive factors.
Diets high in vegetables and fruits have been suggested to be inversely associated with risk of gastric cancer. However, the evidence of the effect of variety of consumption is limited. We therefore ...investigated whether consumption of a variety of vegetables and fruit is associated with gastric and esophageal cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. Data on food consumption and follow‐up on cancer incidence were available for 452,269 participants from 10 European countries. After a mean follow‐up of 8.4 years, 475 cases of gastric and esophageal adenocarcinomas (180 noncardia, 185 cardia, gastric esophageal junction and esophagus, 110 not specified) and 98 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas were observed. Diet Diversity Scores were used to quantify the variety in vegetable and fruit consumption. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to calculate risk ratios. Independent from quantity of consumption, variety in the consumption of vegetables and fruit combined and of fruit consumption alone were statistically significantly inversely associated with the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (continuous hazard ratio per 2 products increment 0.88; 95% CI 0.79–0.97 and 0.76; 95% CI 0.62–0.94, respectively) with the latter particularly seen in ever smokers. Variety in vegetable and/or fruit consumption was not associated with risk of gastric and esophageal adenocarcinomas. Independent from quantity of consumption, more variety in vegetable and fruit consumption combined and in fruit consumption alone may decrease the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However, residual confounding by lifestyle factors cannot be excluded.
Objective: To describe dietary carbohydrate intakes and their food sources among 27 centres in 10 countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) ...study. Methods: Between 1995 and 2000, 36 034 subjects, aged between 35–74 years, were administered a standardized, 24-h dietary recall using a computerized interview software programme (EPIC-SOFT). Intakes (g/day) of total carbohydrate, sugars, starch and fibre were estimated using the standardized EPIC Nutrient Database (ENDB). Mean intakes were adjusted for age, total energy intake, height and weight, and were weighted by season and day of recall. Results: Adjusted mean total carbohydrate intakes were highest in Italy and in the UK health-conscious cohort, and were lowest in Spain, Greece and France. Total fibre intakes were highest in the UK health-conscious cohort and lowest in Sweden and the UK general population. Bread contributed the highest proportion of carbohydrates (mainly starches) in every centre. Fruit consumption contributed a greater proportion of total carbohydrates (mainly sugars) among women than among men, and in southern centres compared with northern centres. Bread, fruits and vegetables represented the largest sources of fibre, but food sources varied considerably between centres. In stratified analyses, carbohydrate intakes tended to be higher among subjects who were physically active, never-smokers or non-drinkers of alcohol. Conclusions: Dietary carbohydrate intakes and in particular their food sources varied considerably between these 10 European countries. Intakes also varied according to gender and lifestyle factors. These data will form the basis for future aetiological analyses of the role of dietary carbohydrates in influencing health and disease.
Background/Objectives: Evidence on the role of diet during adulthood and beyond on fracture occurrence is limited. We investigated diet and hip fracture incidence in a population of elderly ...Europeans, participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition study. Subjects/Methods: 29 122 volunteers (10 538 men, 18 584 women) aged 60 years and above (mean age: 64.3) from five countries were followed up for a median of 8 years and 275 incident hip fractures (222 women and 53 men) were recorded. Diet was assessed at baseline through validated dietary questionnaires. Data were analyzed through Cox proportional-hazards regression with adjustment for potential confounders. Results: No food group or nutrient was significantly associated with hip fracture occurrence. There were suggestive inverse associations, however, with vegetable consumption (hazard ratio (HR) per increasing sex-specific quintile: 0.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85–1.01), fish consumption (HR per increasing sex-specific quintile: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.85–1.02) and polyunsaturated lipid intake (HR per increasing sex-specific quintile: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.82–1.02), whereas saturated lipid intake was positively associated with hip fracture risk (HR per increasing sex-specific quintile: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.99–1.29). Consumption of dairy products did not appear to influence the risk (HR per increasing sex-specific quintile: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.93–1.12). Conclusions: In a prospective study of the elderly, diet, including consumption of dairy products, alcohol and vitamin D, did not appear to play a major role in hip fracture incidence. There is however, weak and statistically non-significant evidence that vegetable and fish consumption and intake of polyunsaturated lipids may have a beneficial, whereas saturated lipid intake a detrimental effect.
Objective To examine the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of different histological subtypes of lung cancer among participants of the European Prospective Investigation ...into Cancer and Nutrition study. Methods Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to analyze the data. A calibration study in a subsample was used to reduce dietary measurement errors. Results During a mean follow-up of 8.7 years, 1,830 incident cases of lung cancer (574 adenocarcinoma, 286 small cell, 137 large cell, 363 squamous cell, 470 other histologies) were identified. In line with our previous conclusions, we found that after calibration a 100 g/day increase in fruit and vegetables consumption was associated with a reduced lung cancer risk (HR 0.94; 95% CI 0.89-0.99). This was also seen among current smokers (HR 0.93; 95% CI 0.90-0.97). Risks of squamous cell carcinomas in current smokers were reduced for an increase of 100 g/day of fruit and vegetables combined (HR 0.85; 95% CI 0.76-0.94), while no clear effects were seen for the other histological subtypes. Conclusion We observed inverse associations between the consumption of vegetables and fruits and risk of lung cancer without a clear effect on specific histological subtypes of lung cancer. In current smokers, consumption of vegetables and fruits may reduce lung cancer risk, in particular the risk of squamous cell carcinomas.
So far, studies on dietary antioxidant intake, including β-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E, and breast cancer risk are inconclusive. Thus, we addressed this question in the European Prospective ...Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. During a median follow-up time of 8.8 years, 7,502 primary invasive breast cancer cases were identified. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). All analyses were run stratified by menopausal status at recruitment and, additionally, by smoking status, alcohol intake, use of exogenous hormones and use of dietary supplements. In the multivariate analyses, dietary intake of β-carotene, vitamin C and E was not associated with breast cancer risk in premenopausal highest vs. lowest quintile: HR, 1.04 (95% CI, 0.85-1.27), 1.12 (0.92-1.36) and 1.11 (0.84-1.46), respectively and postmenopausal women 0.93 (0.82-1.04), 0.98 (0.87-1.11) and 0.92 (0.77-1.11), respectively. However, in postmenopausal women using exogenous hormones, high intake of β-carotene highest vs. lowest quintile; HR 0.79 (95% CI, 0.66-0.96), P trend 0.06 and vitamin C 0.88 (0.72-1.07), P trend 0.05 was associated with reduced breast cancer risk. In addition, dietary β-carotene was associated with a decreased risk in postmenopausal women with high alcohol intake. Overall, dietary intake of β-carotene, vitamin C and E was not related to breast cancer risk in neither pre- nor postmenopausal women. However, in subgroups of postmenopausal women, a weak protective effect between β-carotene and vitamin E from food and breast cancer risk cannot be excluded.
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