PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

F Levi

Publications and source records attributed to F Levi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

Mortality from major cancer sites in the European Union, 1955-1998.

After long-term rises, over the last decade age-standardised mortality from most common cancer sites has fallen in the European Union (EU). For males, the fall was 11% for lung and intestines, 12% for bladder, 6% for oral cavity and pharynx, and 5% for oesophagus. For females, the fall was 7% for breast and 21% for intestines. There were also persisting declines in stomach cancer (30% in both sexes), uterus (mainly cervix, -26%) and leukaemias (-10%). Mortality rates for other common neoplasms, including pancreas for both sexes, prostate and ovary, tended to stabilise. The only unfavourable trends were observed for female lung cancer (+15%). Lung cancer rates in women from the EU are approximately one-third of those in the USA, and 50% lower than breast cancer rates in the EU. Lung cancer rates in European women have also tended to stabilise below the age of 75 years. Thus, effective interventions on tobacco control could, in principle, avoid a major lung cancer epidemic in European women.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Energy, macronutrients and laryngeal cancer risk.

BACKGROUND: A role for diet in laryngeal carcinogenesis has been suggested, but only a few studies have examined the potential relationship with a wide variety of macronutrients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A case-control study was conducted between 1992 and 2000 in Italy and Switzerland, including 527 incident cases of laryngeal cancer, and 1297 controls hospitalized for acute, non-neoplastic conditions. The subjects' usual diet was investigated through a validated food frequency questionnaire, including 78 foods and beverages. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using unconditional multiple logistic regression models. RESULTS: Cases reported higher energy intake than controls. The continuous OR for 100 kcal/day was 1.16 (95% CI 1.12-1.21) for alcohol energy, and 1.02 (95% CI 1.01-1.04) for non-alcohol energy. A significantly increased risk of laryngeal cancer was observed for animal protein (continuous OR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.03-1.41), polyunsaturated fats other than linoleic and linolenic fatty acids (OR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.19-1.70), and cholesterol intake (OR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.19-1.71). Laryngeal cancer risk was slightly reduced with increasing vegetable protein (OR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.62-0.91), sugar (OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.71-1.00) and monounsaturated fatty acid intake (OR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.70-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Laryngeal cancer cases have a higher energy intake than control subjects, and report a higher intake of animal protein and cholesterol.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Folate intake and risk of oral and pharyngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Diet has been recognised as having a role in the aetiology of oral and pharyngeal cancer, and dietary factors may account for 10-15% of cases in Europe. Folate deficiency has been linked to risk of several cancers, but has not been studied adequately with respect to oral cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This case-control study, conducted in Italy and French-speaking Switzerland, included 749 patients with incident cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, and 1772 hospital controls with acute, non-neoplastic conditions. The interviews used a validated food frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: The ORs were 0.68 (95% CI 0.52-0.88) for the intermediate tertile and 0.53 (95% CI 0.40-0.69) for the highest tertile of dietary folate intake, compared with the lowest tertile. No heterogeneity was found in strata of gender, age, methionine intake or alcohol consumption. The combined OR for low-folate and high-alcohol intake versus high-folate and low-alcohol intake was 22.3 (95% CI 13.1-38). CONCLUSIONS: Our study supports a protective role of folate against oral and pharyngeal carcinogenesis. Compared with low folate intake, a consistent reduction in risk was already observed from intermediate levels of intake, suggesting that cancer risk may be related to relative folate deficiency.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Epidemiological research on cancer with a focus on Europe.

Cancer has been a growing public health problem throughout the last century. Cancer mortality rates in both sexes combined in the European Union (EU) reached a peak in 1988. Thereafter, they declined by 9.4% in 1998. Likewise, lung cancer rates in the EU for both sexes combined increased by 58% between 1960 and 1988, but declined by 14% in 1998. Over a third of the decline was accounted for by lung cancer alone and approximately half by the combination of tobacco-related neoplasms. About half of the decline in total cancer mortality not attributable to tobacco derived from the steady fall in mortality from gastric cancer. The remaining half, including favourable trends in colorectal, breast, testis and lymphoid neoplasms, can be at least in part attributed to advancements in cancer diagnosis and treatment. The major causes of cancer and hence the most important priorities for research will be reviewed, with a specific focus on European priorities for research.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2003

The recent decline in gallbladder cancer mortality in Europe.

Mortality from gallbladder cancer has been traditionally high in Eastern Europe, and lower in northern countries. Trends in 18 European countries, including the European Union (EU) and selected Eastern European countries, have been updated using official death certification data abstracted from the WHO database over the period 1980-1999. In the EU, age-standardized rates declined by about 30% between the late 1980s and 1999 to reach 1.8/100 000 for women, and by about 10% to reach 1.4/100 000 for men. In the Czech Republic and Hungary, rates for women were over 6/100 000 until the early 1990s, and declined by about 25% thereafter. For males, gallbladder cancer mortality showed no consistent trend, with rates over 3/100 000. Thus, a high mortality area from gallbladder cancer is still evident for both sexes in Central and Eastern Europe. The trends in mortality from gallbladder cancer are probably influenced by changes in risk factor exposure, such as diet, nutrition or tobacco, but essentially reflect more widespread and earlier adoption of cholecystectomy in the EU, since gallstones are the major risk factor for gallbladder cancer. The data also indicate the scope for further improvement of the management of gallbladder disease in Eastern Europe.

Death Certificates↗
PubMed2003

Trends in testicular cancer incidence in Vaud, Switzerland.

Upward trends in testicular cancer incidence have been reported in Europe and North America, particularly for seminomas. We considered incidence data between 1974 and 1999 from the Swiss cancer registry of Vaud, i.e. one of the highest incidence areas on a worldwide scale, including a total of 731 cases. Testicular cancer incidence was around 8.5/100 000 between the mid-1970s and the late 1980s, and increased to around 10/100 000 in the 1990s. Corresponding figures at age 15-44 were around 16/100 000 between the mid-1970s and the late 1980s, and about 19/100 000 thereafter. No evidence of persisting upward trends was evident over the last few years. The rise in testicular cancer incidence in the 1990s was apparently restricted to seminomas, whose rates increased from about 4 to 5.7/100 000 at all ages, and from 7 to over 11/100 000 at age 15-44. No consistent pattern of trends was observed for malignant teratomas and for other and unspecified histotypes. Testicular cancer in Vaud has shown no tendency to further rising over the last decade, thus re-opening the issue of a probable asymptote of testicular cancer incidence in this population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Alcohol, tobacco and breast cancer--collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 53 epidemiological studies, including 58,515 women with breast cancer and 95,067 women without the disease.

Alcohol and tobacco consumption are closely correlated and published results on their association with breast cancer have not always allowed adequately for confounding between these exposures. Over 80% of the relevant information worldwide on alcohol and tobacco consumption and breast cancer were collated, checked and analysed centrally. Analyses included 58,515 women with invasive breast cancer and 95,067 controls from 53 studies. Relative risks of breast cancer were estimated, after stratifying by study, age, parity and, where appropriate, women's age when their first child was born and consumption of alcohol and tobacco. The average consumption of alcohol reported by controls from developed countries was 6.0 g per day, i.e. about half a unit/drink of alcohol per day, and was greater in ever-smokers than never-smokers, (8.4 g per day and 5.0 g per day, respectively). Compared with women who reported drinking no alcohol, the relative risk of breast cancer was 1.32 (1.19-1.45, P<0.00001) for an intake of 35-44 g per day alcohol, and 1.46 (1.33-1.61, P<0.00001) for >/=45 g per day alcohol. The relative risk of breast cancer increased by 7.1% (95% CI 5.5-8.7%; P<0.00001) for each additional 10 g per day intake of alcohol, i.e. for each extra unit or drink of alcohol consumed on a daily basis. This increase was the same in ever-smokers and never-smokers (7.1% per 10 g per day, P<0.00001, in each group). By contrast, the relationship between smoking and breast cancer was substantially confounded by the effect of alcohol. When analyses were restricted to 22 255 women with breast cancer and 40 832 controls who reported drinking no alcohol, smoking was not associated with breast cancer (compared to never-smokers, relative risk for ever-smokers=1.03, 95% CI 0.98-1.07, and for current smokers=0.99, 0.92-1.05). The results for alcohol and for tobacco did not vary substantially across studies, study designs, or according to 15 personal characteristics of the women; nor were the findings materially confounded by any of these factors. If the observed relationship for alcohol is causal, these results suggest that about 4% of the breast cancers in developed countries are attributable to alcohol. In developing countries, where alcohol consumption among controls averaged only 0.4 g per day, alcohol would have a negligible effect on the incidence of breast cancer. In conclusion, smoking has little or no independent effect on the risk of developing breast cancer; the effect of alcohol on breast cancer needs to be interpreted in the context of its beneficial effects, in moderation, on cardiovascular disease and its harmful effects on cirrhosis and cancers of the mouth, larynx, oesophagus and liver.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Cessation of smoking and drinking and the risk of laryngeal cancer.

A case-control study was conducted in Italy and Switzerland between 1992 and 2000 on 527 cases of laryngeal cancer and 1,297 hospital controls. The risk of laryngeal cancer steadily decreased from 3 years after stopping smoking. Some decline in risk was observed only 20 years or more after stopping drinking.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Fried foods: a risk factor for laryngeal cancer?

The role of fried foods on laryngeal cancer risk was investigated in a case-control study from Italy and Switzerland on 527 cases and 1,297 hospital controls. A significant increased risk was found for high consumption of fried meat, fish, eggs and potatoes, with odds ratios of 1.6, 3.1, 1.9 and 1.9, respectively.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Trends in mortality from Hodgkin's disease in western and eastern Europe.

Hodgkin's disease mortality rates steadily declined by about 75% between the late 1960's and the late 1990's in the current European Union countries and the USA, and Japan. Eastern European countries, however, showed only an approximately 40% decline between the late 1960's and the early 1990's, and no further fall thereafter.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Combined effect of tobacco and alcohol on laryngeal cancer risk: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: To provide information on the effects of alcohol and tobacco on laryngeal cancer and its subsites. METHODS: This was a case-control study conducted between 1992 and 2000 in northern Italy and Switzerland. A total of 527 cases of incident squamous-cell carcinoma of the larynx and 1297 hospital controls frequency-matched with cases on age, sex, and area of residence were included. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: In comparison with never smokers, ORs were 19.8 for current smokers and 7.0 for ex-smokers. The risk increased in relation to the number of cigarettes (OR = 42.9 for > or = 25 cigarettes/day) and for duration of smoking (OR = 37.2 for > or = 40 years). For alcohol, the risk increased in relation to number of drinks (OR = 5.9 for > or = 56 drinks per week). Combined alcohol and tobacco consumption showed a multiplicative (OR = 177) rather than an additive risk. For current smokers and current drinkers the risk was higher for supraglottis (ORs 54.9 and 2.6, respectively) than for glottis (ORs 7.4 and 1.8) and others subsites (ORs 10.9 and 1.9). CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that both cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking are independent risk factors for laryngeal cancer. Heavy consumption of alcohol and cigarettes determined a multiplicative risk increase, possibly suggesting biological synergy.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Macronutrients and colorectal cancer: a Swiss case-control study.

BACKGROUND: A role of energy and various nutrients, including protein, sugar, saturated and unsaturated fats, in colorectal cancer risk has been suggested, but should be better defined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The association between dietary intake of various macronutrients and colorectal cancer risk was analysed using data from a case-control study conducted between 1992 and 2000 in the Swiss Canton of Vaud. The study comprised 286 case subjects (174 males, 112 females; median age 65 years) with incident, histologically confirmed colon (n = 149) or rectal (n = 137) cancer, and 550 control subjects (269 males, 281 females; median age 59 years) admitted to the same University Hospital for a wide spectrum of acute non-neoplastic conditions. Dietary habits were investigated using a validated food frequency questionnaire, including questions on 79 foods or recipes and on individual fat intake pattern. Multivariate odds ratios (OR) were obtained after allowance for age, sex, education, physical activity and energy intake. RESULTS: The risk of colon and rectal cancer increased with total energy intake (OR in highest and lowest tertile, 2.0 and 2.2, respectively). There was no significant relation with starches or proteins, a significant inverse relation with sugars (OR for the highest tertile, 0.5), a direct trend in risk of borderline significance for saturated fats (OR = 1.4 for the highest tertile), and significant inverse trends for monounsaturated (OR = 0.6) and polyunsaturated fats (OR = 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm that energy intake is directly related to colorectal cancer risk, and that different types of fat may have different roles in colorectal carcinogenesis.

Adult↗