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Biomedical subjects

F Levi

Publications and source records attributed to F Levi.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Trends in mortality from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in Europe and other areas of the world.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse trends in mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) over the period 1965 to 1998 in the European Union, other European countries, the USA, and Japan. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data were derived from the World Health Organization database. In the European Union, CHD mortality in men rose from 146/100 000 in 1965-9 to 163/100 000 in 1975-9 and declined thereafter to 99/100 000 in 1995-8 (-39%). In women, the fall was from 70 to 45/100 000 (-36%). A > 55% decline in CVD was registered in both sexes. In eastern Europe, mortality from both CHD and CVD rose up to the early 1990s but has declined over the past few years in Poland and the Czech Republic. In the Russian Federation during 1995-8, mortality rates from CHD reached 330/100 000 men and 154/100 000 women and mortality rates from CVD were 203/100 000 men and 150/100 000 women-that is, they were among the highest rates worldwide. In the USA and Japan, long term trends were favourable for both CHD and CVD. CONCLUSIONS: Trends in mortality from CHD and CVD were favourable in several developed areas of the world, but there were major geographical differences. In a few eastern European countries, mortality from CHD and CVD remains exceedingly high.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2001

Oesophageal cancer in women: tobacco, alcohol, nutritional and hormonal factors.

We analysed 3 case-control studies from Italy and Switzerland including 114 women with squamous cell oesophageal cancer and 425 controls. The multivariate odds ratio was 4.5 for heavy smoking and 5.4 for heavy alcohol drinking. Fruit intake, vegetable intake, oral contraceptive and HRT use were inversely related to oesophageal cancer.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Western and eastern European trends in testicular cancer mortality.

Testicular cancer is curable if treated appropriately. We used national mortality data to compare specific death rates from the disorder in western and eastern Europe, the USA, and Japan. Testicular cancer mortality rates have fallen by about 70% in the USA and western Europe since the 1970s. In eastern Europe, however, death rates from testicular cancer have been declining only since the late 1980s, and at a much slower rate than that recorded elsewhere (about 20%). Consequently, many avoidable deaths, mainly in young adults, are still occurring in eastern Europe. Available effective treatment strategies for testicular cancer must be implemented in these countries.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Dietary intake of selected micronutrients and breast-cancer risk.

The relation between 17 micronutrients and breast-cancer risk was analyzed in a case-control study conducted between 1993 and 1999 in the Swiss Canton of Vaud. Cases were 289 women with incident, histologically confirmed breast cancer, and controls were 442 women admitted to the same hospital for a wide spectrum of acute non-neoplastic conditions unrelated to long-term modifications of diet. Dietary habits were investigated using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) were obtained after allowance for age, education, parity, menopausal status, body mass index, total energy intake and alcohol drinking. For several micronutrients, the ORs tended to decline with increasing tertile of intake, with significant inverse trends in risk for potassium (OR for the highest tertile = 0.21), total carotenoids (OR = 0.42), lycopene (OR = 0.43), folic acid (OR = 0.45), vitamin C (OR = 0.19), vitamin E (OR = 0.37) and vitamin B(6) (OR = 0.54). In a model including a continuous term for the 7 micronutrients significantly related to breast cancer, the only persisting significant inverse relations were for vitamin C (OR = 0.23) and lycopene (OR = 0.64).

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Five-year survival following hepatic resection after neoadjuvant therapy for nonresectable colorectal.

BACKGROUND: Surgical resection is the most effective treatment for colorectal liver metastases but only a minority of patients are candidates for a potentially curative resection. Our experience with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by resection and five years survival analysis of the patients treated is presented. METHODS: Between February of 1988 and September of 1996, 701 patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastases were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Four categories of nonresectable disease were defined: large size, ill location, multinodularity, and extrahepatic disease. Liver resection was performed in those patients whose disease became resectable. After resection, the patients were followed up every 3 months. A 5-year survival analysis by the different categories described was performed. RESULTS: Ninety-five patients (13.5%) were found to be resectable on reevaluation and underwent a potentially curative resection. There was no perioperative mortality, and the complication rate was 23%. As of December of 1999, 87 patients have completed 5 years of follow-up. The overall 5-year survival is 35% from the time of resection and 39% from the onset of chemotherapy. Respective 5-year survival rates are 60% for large tumors, 49% for ill-located lesions, 34% for multinodular disease, and 18% for liver metastases with extrahepatic disease. In this latter category, however, a 35% 5-year survival was found when all the patients with extrahepatic disease were analyzed rather than only those for whom extrahepatic disease was the main cause of nonresectability. CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy enables liver resection in some patients with initially unresectable colorectal metastases. Long-term survival is similar to that reported for a priori surgical candidates.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Childhood cancer mortality in Europe, 1955--1995.

Childhood cancer (0--14 years) mortality rates for six cancer sites, including bone, kidney, eye, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, leukaemias, plus total cancer mortality were computed for subsequent calendar periods from 1955 to 1997, and graphically presented for 16 Western European countries, seven Eastern European countries, plus the European Union as a whole. All Western European countries showed substantial declines in mortality from leukaemias and from all neoplasms considered from the mid-1960s onwards, for an average fall over 60%, and an estimated total number of approximately 4500 avoided deaths per year. Favourable trends were observed also in Eastern Europe, but the declines started later (i.e. around the mid-1970s or the late 1980s), and were only approximately 30%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Dietary fibre and the risk of colorectal cancer.

The relationship between various types of fibre and colorectal cancer risk was investigated using data from a case-control study conducted in the Swiss Canton of Vaud between January 1992 and December 2000. The study included 286 cases of incident, histologically-confirmed colorectal cancers (149 colon and 137 rectal cancers) admitted to the University Hospital of Lausanne, and 550 controls whose admission diagnosis was of acute, non-neoplastic diseases. Dietary habits were investigated using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Odds ratios (ORs) were computed after allowance for age, sex, education, physical activity and energy intake. Fibre was analysed both as a continuous variable and in tertiles. There was a significant inverse relationship of total fibre intake (determined by the Englyst method as non-starch polysaccharides) and of its components with the risk of colorectal cancer. ORs for a difference in intake of one standard deviation from the mean fibre intake of the control distribution was 0.57 for total fibres, 0.55 for soluble non-cellulose polysaccharides (NCPs), 0.58 for total insoluble fibres, 0.57 for cellulose, 0.62 for insoluble NCP and 0.62 for lignin. When fibre was classified according to its source, the OR was 0.60 for vegetables, 0.78 for fruit and 0.74 for grain fibre. The ORs were similar for colon and rectal cancer and consistent across the strata of the major covariates and of several types of fibres.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Leanness and squamous cell oesophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Squamous cell oesophageal cancer is one of the few neoplasms inversely related to body mass index (BMI). However, it is not clear whether this is due to cancer-related weight loss or to other correlates of leanness. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 395 incident, histologically confirmed cases of squamous cell oesophageal cancer and 1,066 controls, admitted for acute, non-neoplastic diseases, in Italy and Switzerland. Odds ratios (ORs) were derived from multiple logistic regression, including terms for education, tobacco. alcohol, non-alcohol energy, fruit and vegetable intake. RESULTS: The ORs for the lowest vs. the highest quartile of BMI in the year before diagnosis were 2.0 in men, 1.6 in women, and 1.9 (95% confidence interval: 1.3-2.9) in both sexes combined. The association with leanness was stronger in heavy smokers, but was not accounted for by smoking and drinking, nor by differences in diet. Weight change in the decade prior to diagnosis showed no linear association with risk. However, cases were not leaner than controls at age 30 (OR = 0.6 for the lowest BMI quartile) and 50 (OR = 1.1). CONCLUSIONS: Leanness appears to be an indicator of squamous cell oesophageal carcinogenesis. However, low BMI in the distant past was unrelated to oesophageal cancer risk.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Leanness as early marker of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx.

BACKGROUND: It is not clear whether the purported association of leanness with cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx was due to cancer-related weight loss or to the influence of factors associated with leanness. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seven hundred fifty-four incident cases of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx and 1775 controls, admitted to hospital for acute, non-neoplastic diseases, in Italy and Switzerland. Questionnaire included height, lifetime history of weight and of physical activity, waist and hip measurements, and a validated food-frequency section. RESULTS: Leanness at diagnosis was associated with elevated risk in men (adjusted odds ratio, OR for 5-unit decrease in body-mass index, BMI = 1.9; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.6-2.2 in men). Male cases were significantly leaner than control subjects at the age of 30 and of 50. Thinner women also had an increased risk, but the inverse association with BMI was non linear. In both sexes, the association with leanness was restricted to smokers and moderate/heavy drinkers, but was not accounted for by drinking and smoking habits, nor by differences in physical activity or dietary habits. CONCLUSIONS: Leanness appears to be an early marker of some unknown biological effect of smoking and/or of alcohol abuse, which may contribute to the prediction of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx. Cessation of smoking and substantial reduction of alcohol intake may improve nutritional status, besides stopping carcinogen exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

A pooled analysis of case-control studies of thyroid cancer. VI. Fish and shellfish consumption.

OBJECTIVE: To better understand the role of fish and shellfish on thyroid cancer risk, we systematically re-analyzed the original data from 13 case-control studies conducted in the US, Japan, China, and Europe. METHODS: A total of 2497 cases (2023 women, 474 men) and 4337 controls (3268 women, 1069 men) were considered. Odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for each study by logistic regression models, conditioned on age and sex, and adjusted for history of goiter, thyroid nodules or adenomas, and radiation. Combined ORs were computed as the weighted average of the estimates from each study. RESULTS: The ORs for the highest level of total fish consumption (three or more times per week) as compared to the lowest one (less than once per week) was above unity in Hawaii, Connecticut, Japan, Norway, Tromsø, and Vaud. Conversely, the ORs for the studies in Los Angeles. Shanghai, southeastern Sweden, Uppsala, northern Sweden, northern Italy, and Athens were below one. The pattern of risk for salt water fish and shellfish was not substantially different from that of total fish. Fish was not associated with thyroid cancer risk in all studies combined (OR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.85-1.2 for moderate, and OR=0.88, 95% CI 0.71-1.1 for high total fish consumption), but there was a suggestion of a protective effect in endemic goiter areas (OR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.48-0.88). CONCLUSION: This combined analysis indicates that relatively elevated fish consumption does not appreciably increase thyroid cancer risk, and may have a favorable influence in areas where iodine deficiency is, or was, common.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Changed trends of cancer mortality in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: Trends in cancer mortality for the elderly have long been unfavourable. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mortality from 12 major cancer sites, plus total cancer mortality at age 65-84 in 23 European countries, the US and Japan was analyzed. RESULTS: Between the late 1980s and the late 1990s total cancer mortality at age 65 to 84 has been declining in the European Union (UE) (-5.5% in males, -4.5% in females), in United States (US) males (-2.3%), but not females (+4.4%), and in Japanese females (-5.6%), but not males (+6.3%). Cancer mortality in the elderly rose for both sexes in eastern Europe. Gastric cancer mortality declined in all the areas. Lung cancer rates declined over the last decade by 8.5% in males in the EU. and by 0.9% in the US. Rates were still increasing in eastern Europe, in Japanese males and in females in all areas. Pancreatic mortality rates were increasing in both sexes in the EU and Japan up to the late 1980s, and in eastern Europe up to the 1990s, whereas rates for US males have been declining over recent years. Breast cancer mortality has declined over the last decade by 8% in the US and by 3% in the EU, while it has risen in eastern Europe and in Japan. Mortality from breast and prostate as well as ovarian cancer remained however low in elderly Japanese. Prostate cancer mortality declined in the EU and in the US, whereas it rose in eastern Europe and in Japan. Mortality from lymphomas and multiple myeloma rose in both sexes and various geographic areas, but improved diagnosis and certification may have played a role in these trends. Mortality from leukemia in the elderly increased in eastern Europe and Japan. but was stable in the US and the EU. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer mortality in the elderly has stopped systematically rising, and is on the decline in males since the late 1980s.

Aged↗