The associations among certain allergic disorders, atopy upon skin-prick testing, and specific cancers were evaluated in a prospective study. Information regarding history of asthma and hay fever was collected by questionnaire from 3,308 cancer-free participants in the 1981 Busselton Health Survey. A subset of 1,005 participants also underwent skin-prick testing. The cohort was followed for a new diagnosis of cancer or death until the end of 1999. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (relative risks) for breast, prostate, colorectal, lung, and hematologic cancers and melanoma. Having a skin reaction to house dust mites nearly tripled the risk of prostate cancer (relative risk = 2.90, 95% confidence interval: 1.26, 6.68). History of asthma and hay fever were associated with a trend toward a reduced risk of colorectal cancer and increased risk of leukemia, but these results were not statistically significant. Hay fever was associated with melanoma risk in men but not in women. No association was found between breast and lung cancers and allergic disorders or atopy.
No abstract
Left-handedness may be an indicator of intrauterine exposure to oestrogens, which may increase the risk of breast cancer. Women (n ¼ 1786) from a 1981 health survey in Busselton were followed up using death and cancer registries. Left-handers had higher risk of breast cancer than right-handers and the effect was greater for post-menopausal breast cancer (hazard ratio ¼ 2.59, 95% confidence interval 1.11 -6.03). Intrauterine exposure to oestrogens has been hypothesised as being a risk factor for breast cancer (Trichopoulos, 1990). Lefthandedness has been linked to high fetal exposure to oestrogens on the basis of left-handedness being associated with diethylstilbestrol exposure (Schachter, 1994;Scheirs and Vingerhoets, 1995). Left-handedness may therefore be thought of as a proxy for high intrauterine exposure to oestrogens. In a recent paper, a modest association was reported between left-handedness and breast cancer risk (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) ¼ 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.99 -1.76) in a case-cohort study; (Ramadhani et al, 2005). They found that the association was confined to pre-menopausal breast cancer. An earlier case -control study (Titus-Ernstoff et al, 2000) had found a similar effect but in post-menopausal women (OR ¼ 1.42, 95% CI 1.10 -1.83). We examined this question in a prospective study in Australia. MATERIALS AND METHODSBetween 1966 and 1981, the Australian town of Busselton was the site of triennial cross-sectional health surveys consisting of a general health questionnaire (including a question on handedness) and various health-related tests. In the 1981 survey, 3940 adults participated (64% of those eligible), with 14 subsequently excluded owing to a diagnosis of malignancy before the survey date. The cohort was followed to the end of 2004. Linkage to death registrations was used to identify deaths occurring within Western Australia. Information from relatives and linkage to electoral rolls was used to identify if and when participants had left Western Australia. With cancer notification mandatory in Australia, linkage to the Western Australian Cancer Registry was used to determine the incidence of specific cancers.Relative risk estimates (HRs) for left-handedness in relation to development of breast cancer were calculated from Cox proportional hazards regression models that also adjusted for age, smoking category, body mass index, number of pregnancies and menopausal status at the 1981 survey. We also fitted two further models that limited person-time at risk to pre-menopausal years (up to age 51 years for women who were pre-menopausal in 1981) and to post-menopausal years (over age 51 years). RESULTSAmong the 1786 women who participated in the survey and were not excluded owing to having missing data, there were a total of 94 cases of primary breast cancer diagnosed during the follow-up period. Of 1637 right-handers, 86 (5.3%) developed breast cancer compared with 7 (7.5%) of 93 left-handers and 1 (1.8%) of 56 women who had reported being ambidextrous. Twenty-two breast cancer ...
This is the first report of familial idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis associated with hepatic nodular regenerative hyperplasia and bone marrow hypoplasia. Four members of one family presented with this triad of organ dysfunction. The response to immunosuppressive treatment was poor and all four members succumbed to the disease processes. The current literature is reviewed and mechanisms that could have been involved in the development of this new syndrome are proposed.
Physical inactivity and obesity are the major causes of CHD and stroke events (incidence and mortality) in Herefordshire. Their impact is greater than the combined effect of hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. Epidemiological measures used in this study proved to be excellent tools in providing evidence-based public health information. Their use is strongly recommended to support prioritization of primary prevention interventions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.