A watch-and-wait approach for patients with rectal cancer and a clinical complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy is associated with better quality of life and functional ...outcome. Nevertheless, prospective data on both parameters are scarce.
To prospectively evaluate quality of life and functional outcome, including bowel, urinary, and sexual function, of patients following a watch-and-wait approach.
A total of 278 patients with rectal cancer and a clinical complete response or near-complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy were included in 2 prospective cohort studies: a single-center study (March 2014 to October 2017) and an ongoing multicenter study (from September 2017). Patients were observed by a watch-and-wait approach. Additional local excision or total mesorectal excision was performed for residual disease or regrowth. Data were analyzed between April 1, 2021, and August 27, 2021, for patients with a minimum follow-up of 24 months.
Quality of life was evaluated with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Questionnaire-C30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30), EORTC-QLQ-CR38, or EORTC-QLQ-CR29 and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey. The score for the questionnaires and 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey ranges from 0 to 100. For some scales, a high score indicates a high level of functioning, and for others it indicates a high level of complaints and symptomatology. Functional outcome was assessed by the Low Anterior Resection Syndrome score, Vaizey incontinence score, International Prostate Symptom Score, International Index of Erectile Function, and Female Sexual Function Index.
Of 278 patients included, 187 were male (67%), and the median age was 66 years (range, 34-85 years). In the first 24 months, 221 patients (80%) were observed by a watch-and-wait approach without requiring surgery, 18 patients (6%) underwent additional local excision, and 39 patients (14%) underwent total mesorectal excision. In general, patients observed by a watch-and-wait approach reported good quality of life, with limited variation over time. At 3 months, 56 of 221 patients (25.3%) reported major bowel dysfunction; at 12 months, 53 patients (24.0%) reported it; and at 24 months, 55 patients (24.9%) reported it. At 24 months, 48 of 151 male patients (31.8%) reported severe erectile dysfunction. For female patients, sexual satisfaction and overall sexual function decreased during follow-up. Patients who underwent local excision reported more major bowel dysfunction (10 of 18 patients 55.6%) compared with those without additional surgery. Quality-of-life scores, however, were comparable. After total mesorectal excision, patients scored significantly worse on several quality-of-life subscales.
Results of this study suggest that patients with rectal cancer who were observed by a watch-and-wait approach had good quality of life, with some patients reporting bowel and sexual dysfunction. Quality of life and functional outcome deteriorated when patients required surgery. These data will be useful in daily care to counsel patients on what to expect from a watch-and-wait approach.
Circulating pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP) has been linked to lung cancer risk. The PAr index, defined as the ratio 4-pyridoxic acid/(pyridoxal + PLP), reflects increased vitamin B6 catabolism during ...inflammation. PAr has been defined as a marker of lung cancer risk in a prospective cohort study, but analysis of a larger numbers of cases are needed to deepen the significance of this study. Here, we conducted a nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC,
= 521,330), which included 892 incident lung cancer cases and 1,748 controls matched by center, gender, date of blood collection, and date of birth. The association of PAr with risk of lung cancer was evaluated by using conditional logistic regression. Study participants with elevated PAr experienced higher risk of lung cancer in a dose-response fashion, with a doubling in PAr levels associated with 52% higher odds of lung cancer after adjustment for tobacco smoking, serum cotinine levels, educational attainment, and BMI OR, 1.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27-1.81;
< 0.001. Additional adjustment for intake of vegetables and fruits and physical activity did not materially affect risk association. The association of PAr with lung cancer risk was similar in both genders but slightly stronger in former smokers and in participants diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. This study provides robust evidence that increased vitamin B6 catabolism is independently associated with a higher risk of future lung cancer.
This large cohort study firmly establishes an association between an index of vitamin B6 levels with lung cancer risk.
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Reproductive events are associated with important physiologic changes, yet little is known about how reproductive factors influence long-term health in women. Our objective was to assess the relation ...of reproductive characteristics with all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk.
The analysis was performed within the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition prospective cohort study, which enrolled >500,000 women and men from 1992 to 2000, who were residing in a given town/geographic area in 10 European countries. The current analysis included 322,972 eligible women aged 25-70 years with 99 % complete follow-up for vital status. We assessed reproductive characteristics reported at the study baseline including parity, age at the first birth, breastfeeding, infertility, oral contraceptive use, age at menarche and menopause, total ovulatory years, and history of oophorectomy/hysterectomy. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for mortality were determined using Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for menopausal status, body mass index, physical activity, education level, and smoking status/intensity and duration.
During a mean follow-up of 12.9 years, 14,383 deaths occurred. The HR (95 % CI) for risk of all-cause mortality was lower in parous versus nulliparous women (0.80; 0.76-0.84), in women who had ever versus never breastfed (0.92; 0.87-0.97), in ever versus never users of oral contraceptives (among non-smokers; 0.90; 0.86-0.95), and in women reporting a later age at menarche (≥15 years versus <12; 0.90; 0.85-0.96; P for trend = 0.038).
Childbirth, breastfeeding, oral contraceptive use, and a later age at menarche were associated with better health outcomes. These findings may contribute to the development of improved strategies to promote better long-term health in women.
Diets high in red or processed meat have been associated positively with some cancers, and several possible underlying mechanisms have been proposed, including iron-related pathways. However, the ...role of meat intake in adult glioma risk has yielded conflicting findings because of small sample sizes and heterogeneous tumour classifications. The aim of this study was to examine red meat, processed meat and iron intake in relation to glioma risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. In this prospective cohort study, 408 751 individuals from nine European countries completed demographic and dietary questionnaires at recruitment. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine intake of red meat, processed meat, total dietary iron and haem iron in relation to incident glioma. During an average follow-up of 14.1 years, 688 incident glioma cases were diagnosed. There was no evidence that any of the meat variables (red, processed meat or subtypes of meat) or iron (total or haem) were associated with glioma; results were unchanged when the first 2 years of follow-up were excluded. This study suggests that there is no association between meat or iron intake and adult glioma. This is the largest prospective analysis of meat and iron in relation to glioma and as such provides a substantial contribution to a limited and inconsistent literature.
In large studies and under field conditions common to epidemiological research, factors outside of and inside the laboratory can introduce misclassification of genetic susceptibility markers. Few ...reports have been made on the accuracy of genotyping individuals using DNA extracted from frozen urine that was stored for approximately 20 years. This study was performed to determine the reproducibility and accuracy of N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) genotyping by RFLP analysis using DNA from stored urine. To obtain long-term frozen urine and blood samples from the same person, the databases of two large prospective studies were linked by name and date of birth. Six polymorphisms within the coding region of NAT2 were determined in 65 urine and blood samples after which, genotypes and imputed phenotypes (rapid, slow) were derived. To test reproducibility, all of the six polymorphisms were determined twice in 47 urine-blood pairs. Reproducibility of imputed phenotypes was 91.5% in urine samples and 97.9% in blood samples. To test accuracy, results for all six polymorphisms were compared between urine and blood DNA. All of the kappa's were at least 0.85 except one. Identical results for all six polymorphisms were seen in 78.5% of urine-blood pairs. Taking blood samples as a reference standard, rapid acetylators were classified as rapid in 97% of subjects (95% confidence interval, 90-100%), and slow acetylators were classified as slow also in 97% of subjects (95% confidence interval, 91-100%), when using urine. This study shows that stored urine samples can be used for DNA genotyping in large cohort studies, when blood samples are not available.
To evaluate prospectively the association between serological markers of selected infections, including HPV, and risk of developing cervical cancer (CC) and precancer, we performed a nested ...case–control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study that included 184 cases of invasive CC (ICC), 425 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 3 or carcinoma in situ (CIS), and 1,218 matched control women. At enrollment participants completed lifestyle questionnaires and provided sera. Subjects were followed‐up for a median of 9 years. Immunoassays were used to detect serum antibodies to Human Herpes Virus 2 (HHV‐2), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Chlamydia pneumoniae, L1 proteins of mucosal and cutaneous HPV types, E6/E7 proteins of HPV16/18, as well as to four polyomaviruses. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for CIN3/CIS and ICC risk were respectively: 1.6 (1.2–2.0) and 1.8 (1.1–2.7) for L1 seropositivity to any mucosal HPV type, 1.0 (0.4–2.4) and 7.4 (2.8–19.7) for E6 seropositivity to HPV16/18, 1.3 (0.9–1.9) and 2.3 (1.3–4.1) for CT seropositivity, and 1.4 (1.0–2.0) and 1.5 (0.9–2.6) for HHV‐2 seropositivity. The highest OR for ICC was observed for HPV16 E6 seropositivity OR = 10.2 (3.3–31.1). Increasing number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) was associated with increasing risk. Non‐STIs were not associated with CC risk. In conclusion, this large prospective study confirms the important role of HPV and a possible contribution of CT and HHV‐2 in cervical carcinogenesis. It further identifies HPV16 E6 seropositivity as the strongest marker to predict ICC well before disease development.
What's New?
Limited data are available from prospective studies concerning the role of past exposure to human papillomavirus (HPV) and other infections in cervical carcinogenesis. This study assessed associations between cervical cancer and pre‐cancer and serological markers of exposure to mucosal and cutaneous HPVs, Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Chlamydia pneumonia, human herpes virus‐2 (HHV‐2), and polyomaviruses using a nested case‐control design within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort. Associations were found for mucosal HPVs, CT, and HHV‐2. A greater number of sexually transmitted diseases further raised the risk of cervical cancer.
Studies have shown associations between mortality and long-term exposure to particulate matter air pollution. Few cohort studies have estimated the effects of the elemental composition of particulate ...matter on mortality.
Our aim was to study the association between natural-cause mortality and long-term exposure to elemental components of particulate matter.
Mortality and confounder data from 19 European cohort studies were used. Residential exposure to eight a priori-selected components of particulate matter (PM) was characterized following a strictly standardized protocol. Annual average concentrations of copper, iron, potassium, nickel, sulfur, silicon, vanadium, and zinc within PM size fractions ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and ≤ 10 μm (PM10) were estimated using land-use regression models. Cohort-specific statistical analyses of the associations between mortality and air pollution were conducted using Cox proportional hazards models using a common protocol followed by meta-analysis.
The total study population consisted of 291,816 participants, of whom 25,466 died from a natural cause during follow-up (average time of follow-up, 14.3 years). Hazard ratios were positive for almost all elements and statistically significant for PM2.5 sulfur (1.14; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.23 per 200 ng/m3). In a two-pollutant model, the association with PM2.5 sulfur was robust to adjustment for PM2.5 mass, whereas the association with PM2.5 mass was reduced.
Long-term exposure to PM2.5 sulfur was associated with natural-cause mortality. This association was robust to adjustment for other pollutants and PM2.5.
The COVID-19 pandemic has a large impact worldwide and is known to particularly affect the older population. This paper outlines the protocol for external validation of prognostic models predicting ...mortality risk after presentation with COVID-19 in the older population. These prognostic models were originally developed in an adult population and will be validated in an older population (≥ 70 years of age) in three healthcare settings: the hospital setting, the primary care setting, and the nursing home setting.
Based on a living systematic review of COVID-19 prediction models, we identified eight prognostic models predicting the risk of mortality in adults with a COVID-19 infection (five COVID-19 specific models: GAL-COVID-19 mortality, 4C Mortality Score, NEWS2 + model, Xie model, and Wang clinical model and three pre-existing prognostic scores: APACHE-II, CURB65, SOFA). These eight models will be validated in six different cohorts of the Dutch older population (three hospital cohorts, two primary care cohorts, and a nursing home cohort). All prognostic models will be validated in a hospital setting while the GAL-COVID-19 mortality model will be validated in hospital, primary care, and nursing home settings. The study will include individuals ≥ 70 years of age with a highly suspected or PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection from March 2020 to December 2020 (and up to December 2021 in a sensitivity analysis). The predictive performance will be evaluated in terms of discrimination, calibration, and decision curves for each of the prognostic models in each cohort individually. For prognostic models with indications of miscalibration, an intercept update will be performed after which predictive performance will be re-evaluated.
Insight into the performance of existing prognostic models in one of the most vulnerable populations clarifies the extent to which tailoring of COVID-19 prognostic models is needed when models are applied to the older population. Such insight will be important for possible future waves of the COVID-19 pandemic or future pandemics.
Abstract We present the main findings observed to date from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) on dietary factors associated with the most frequent cancer sites. ...Methods EPIC is a multicentre prospective study carried out in 23 centres in 10 European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, including 519,978 participants (366,521 women and 153,457 men), most aged 35–70 years. Results We observed the following significant associations: gastric cancer risk was inversely associated with high plasma vitamin C, some carotenoids, retinol and α-tocopherol, high intake of cereal fibre and high adhesion to Mediterranean diet, while red and processed meat were associated with increased risk. High intake of dietary fibre, fish, calcium, and plasma vitamin D were associated with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer, while red and processed meat intake, alcohol intake, body mass index (BMI) and abdominal obesity were associated with an increased risk. High intake of fruit and vegetables in current smokers were associated with a decreased risk of lung cancer. An increased risk of breast cancer was associated with high saturated fat intake and alcohol intake. In postmenopausal women, BMI was positively and physical activity negatively associated with breast cancer risk. High intake of dairy protein and calcium from dairy products and high serum concentration of IGF-I were associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. These results contribute to scientific evidence for appropriate public health strategies and prevention activities aimed at reducing the global cancer burden.
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