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Biomedical subjects

L N Kolonel

Publications and source records attributed to L N Kolonel.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Seasonal patterns of skin melanoma incidence in Hawaii.

We analyzed the seasonal pattern of diagnosis of malignant melanoma of the skin among Caucasians in Hawaii during 1960-1978. For all cases combined, a significant sine-wave pattern with a summertime peak was found. This pattern was most pronounced for melanoma of head and neck and lower extremities and for persons age 50 and over. These findings support the hypothesis that solar ultraviolet radiation may be a short-term promoter of some malignant melanomas of the skin.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Dietary fat intake and cancer incidence among five ethnic groups in Hawaii.

Average daily intakes of several components of fat in the diets of the five main ethnic groups in Hawaii were determined from personal interviews of 4137 subjects regarding their food consumption in a usual week. In general, fat intake was highest among Caucasians and lowest among Filipinos. Cholesterol intake did not follow the same pattern as that of the other fat components. The intake of total fat showed good correlation with the ethnic-specific incidence rates of breast cancer in Hawaii but not with colon or prostate cancer rates. There was no correlation of cholesterol intake with colon cancer incidence.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Malignant melanoma of the skin in Hawaii, 1960-1977.

An analysis was made of the 333 cases of invasive malignant melanoma (MM) of the skin, which were diagnosed among residents of Hawaii from 1960-1977. Caucasians accounted for 265 (79.6%) of the cases. The age-adjusted incidence rate of MM was found to have tripled among both male and female Whites during the study period, while no increase was observed for non-Whites. Among Whites, age-adjusted incidence rates increased for all anatomic sites for both sexes, except for apparently stable rates on the lower extremities of females. Rates were higher for males on the head and neck and trunk and higher for females on the lower extremities. By 1972-77, however, rates on the lower extremities were equal for the sexes. Interestingly, age-adjusted rates for Hawaii-born Whites were found to be much lower than for Caucasian immigrants, particularly among females, where a six-fold difference was observed. Thus, the epidemiology of MM in Hawaii is largely, but not entirely, consistment with the hypothesis that solar exposure is a major risk factor for MM.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Associations between cancer incidence and alcohol/cigarette consumption among five ethnic groups in Hawaii.

The average annual age-adjusted incidence rates of cancer for 15 sites were determined for 10 ethnic-sex groups in Hawaii. Consumption rates for cigarettes, beer, wine and hard liquor were also determined for the same 10 groups based on personal interview of a sample of 9920 individuals. Covariance analysis was used to adjust each exposure variable for the other three, and the cancer incidence rates were then linearly regressed on these covariance-adjusted consumption rates. Statistically significant regression coefficients were found for cancer of the tongue/mouth, pharynx, larynx, pancreas, lung, kidney and bladder regressed on cigarette consumption. Eight cancer sites, including tongue/mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, lung and kidney, had significant positive regression coefficients for beer consumption which could not be explained by outlying values on the scattergram. Significant associations were also suggested between wine consumption and pharyngeal cancer and between hard-liquor consumption and pharyngeal, laryngeal and possibly brain cancer. No association was found between beer consumption and colorectal cancer. Multiple regression analysis with sex, cigarettes and alcoholic beverage as independent variables consistently found sex to be least important in determining cancer risk. This study supports the hypothesis that beer consumption may play a role in cancer risk for several sites. It is suggested that future studies of alcoholic beverages and cancer should examine not only types of alcoholic beverages, but individual brands of each type in an attempt to identify cancer risk due to carcinogens in only certain brands.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1980

Cancer mortality in a cohort of naval shipyard workers in Hawaii: early findings.

A retrospective cohort study was performed in Hawaii among 4,779 male shipyard workers exposed to asbestos and 2,757 similar male workers without known asbestos exposure. Observed deaths from cancer and other causes in the 2 groups were compared with expected deaths on the basis of the general population of Hawaii by the use of a modified life-table method of analysis. A risk ratio for lung cancer of 1.7 was found for the exposed group after 20 or more years of follow-up. No increased risk for lung cancer was seen in the nonexposed group. These findings could not be attributed to differences in smoking habits in the 2 shipyard groups or between the shipyard groups and the general population. Because the maximum duration of follow-up for this analysis was 24 years, greater risks for lung cancer may be seen in the exposed group when the follow-up period is extended.

Asbestos↗
PubMed1980

Cancer patterns of four ethnic groups in Hawaii.

Cancer risks were compared in the Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, and Filipino populations of Hawaii with those in the U.S. white population. The analysis used standardized incidence ratio(s) (SIR), based on the U.S. white incidence rates for 1970. In general, the risks for many major cancers in the Japanese, Chinese, and Filipinos were low in relation to U.S. whites, whereas those for Hawaiians were high. However, the SIR values for the various cancer sites and types varied considerably within each ethnic group. Ethnic-specific data on smoking, drinking, and dietary habits and on sociologic and demographic factors were examined in relation to the SIR findings. Some of the results were consistent with current etiologic hypotheses, whereas others suggested areas for further epidemiologic study.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Talc-coated rice as a risk factor for stomach cancer.

Analysis of data from Japan and Hawaii offers no support for the hypothesis that the use of talc-coated rice increases the risk of developing stomach cancer. This conclusion is based on the observation that Japanese in Japan have very high rates of stomach cancer but consume no talc-coated rice, that Japanese in Hawaii have intermediate rates of stomach cancer but consume considerable amounts of talc-coated rice, and that Filipinos in Hawaii have very low rates of gastric cancer but consume the highest amounts of talc-coated rice of these three groups. Furthermore, secular trends in gastric cancer incidence show a much greater decrease in the incidence of this tumor among the exposed Japanese in Hawaii than among the unexposed Japanese in Japan.

Asbestos↗
PubMed1978

Epidemiologic features and phage types associated with nosocomial infections caused by Staphylococcus epidermidis.

An apparent problem with increased numbers of nosocomial infections caused by Staphylococcus epidermidis at a large hospital was studied in a clinical-epidemiological investigation. Thirty-six cases of S. epidermidis infection were confirmed on the thoracic surgery, general surgery, nursery and pediatric services during a 3-year period. Nine cases were fatal and six of these occurred in patients following cardiovascular surgery with implanted prothesis. The majority of cases (25/36) occurred following cardiovascular surgery. The median onset of infection was six days from the date of surgery, suggesting infection during the intraoperative period. Although the number of cases studied remains small, two phage types, 71/108/275a/459 and 407-2, did predominate among these clinical infections. Interestingly, during this same time interval these same types predominated among surgical staff members closely associated with these patients. Resistance to antimicrobials was high among isolates tested, with more than 50% of the strains resistant to six or more antimicrobial agents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Leprosy and cancer: a retrospective cohort study in Hawaii.

We used data collected on a retrospective cohort of 1,123 leprosy patients living in Hawaii between 1940 and 1970, to test the hypotheses that patients with lepromatous leprosy, who have an impairment in their cellular immune response, would have an increased risk for cancer and that patients with tuberculoid leprosy, who are immunologically competent, would have a normal or even a reduced cancer risk from beneficial stimulation of their cellular immune system by exposure to the Mycobacterium leprae organisms. Based on the survival analysis method, the results of the study supported the predicted increase in cancer cases among the lepromatous leprosy patients (19 observed, 12.7 expected; risk ratio = 1.5) and the predicted decrease among the tuberculoid leprosy patients (14 observed, 17.8 expected; risk ratio = 0.8); in both groups, the findings were consistent across the five racial categories of the study. However, none of these differences between observed and expected cases was statistically significant at the 5% level. The study provided no support for the alternate hypothesis that chronic antigenic stimulation by the M. leprae organisms might lead to an increase in tumors of the lymphoreticular system.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Adequacy of survey data collected from substitute respondents.

This study examined interview data on personal habits (smoking, drinking and dietary histories) when collected from two sources. A sample of 300 pairs of subjects (mostly husbands and wives) was obtained from an ongoing health survey in Hawaii, and both members of each pair were interviewed separately about the habits of the husband. Care was taken that the members of each pair had no opportunity to communicate with each other between the start and completion of both interviews. The results showed remarkably good agreement in overall mean values between the two groups of respondents. In general, approximately 75% of the pairs agreed within acceptable limits on most items. There was no clear association of the degree of agreement within pairs with a variety of characteristics of the surrogate group, including age, race, level of education, family income, and duration of residence of proportion of meals eaten together with the subject. These findings are encouraging for the use of surrogate respondents in studies of personal habits where direct interviews are not always feasible, or where the use of such substitutes can improve the reppresentativeness and size of the sample.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Association of cadmium with renal cancer.

Sixty-four cases of renal cancer in white males were compared with controls (197 cases of nonmalignant diseases of the digestive system and 72 cases of colon cancer) for past exposures to cadmium. Controls were also white males, and were group-matched to the cases on age for the analyses. Data on the three main sources of exposure to cadmium--diet, cigarette smoking and occupation--were obtained by interview. The results showed a significant association of renal cancer with exposure to cadmium, and favored a synergistic effect between occupational exposure and smoking. The relative risk for men who both smoked and worked in high-risk occupations was more than four times that for men who did neither. The apparent synergism, however, suggests that the agent in cigarette smoke contributing to this association may not be cadmium.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

Efficacy of phage typing epidemiologically related Staphylococcus epidermidis strains.

A total of 118 epidemiologically related Staphylococcus epidermidis strains from hospital patients, staff, and fomites were examined with a provisional set of 18 typing phages. Seventy (59.3%) of these strains were typed using phage concentrations of 100 times routine test dilution. The remainder were nontypable. Thirty-six (30.5%) of the strains were of related phage types, 71/108/275A/459 and 71/108/275A. These latter strains were associated with clinical S. epidermidis endocarditis in patients with prosthetic valve replacements. Ninety-eight strains were characterized by the Baird-Parket biotyping schema. Eighty-three (84.7%) were biotype 1, and the majority (68.4%) of these were resistant to penicillin, ampicillin, methicillin, cephalothin, erythromycin, and clindamycin. Type 71, 71/108/275A/459, 71/108/275A and 71/108/275/459 strains were generally resistant to penicillin, ampicillin, erythromycin, and methicillin, whereas a less consistent resistance pattern was noted among miscellaneous and nontypable strains.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Trends in birth defects for a Hawaiian population exposed to heptachlor and for the United States.

The 1980-1982 milk supply contamination on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, by the insecticide heptachlor offered an opportunity to investigate the possible human teratogenicity of this organochlorine. An analysis of incidence rates for 23 major congenital malformations, derived from hospital-generated data collected by the Birth Defects Monitoring Program of the Centers for Disease Control, failed to show any remarkable rate increase on Oahu in 1981-1983, based on comparisons with the rates for previous time periods on this island and with the rates for two unexposed populations (the other Hawaiian islands and the total U.S.). A rise in the rates of cardiovascular malformations and hip dislocation was apparent but antedated the exposure. These results suggest that no major rate increase for malformations recognized at birth resulted from the heptachlor contamination on Oahu. However, misclassification of exposure status in this study may have obscured a more moderate effect.

Adolescent↗