BACKGROUND Renal cell carcinoma and hypertension (a well-established renal cancer risk factor) are both more frequent among blacks than whites in the U.S. The association between hypertension and renal cell carcinoma has not been examined in black Americans. We investigated the hypertension–renal cancer association by race, and we assessed the role of hypertension in the racial disparity of renal cancer incidence. METHODS Participants were enrolled in a population-based case-control study in Detroit and Chicago during 2002–2007 (number of cases: 843 whites, 358 blacks; number of controls: 707 whites, 519 blacks). Participants reported their history of hypertension and antihypertensive drug use. We used unconditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for demographic characteristics, smoking, body mass index, and family history of cancer. RESULTS Hypertension doubled renal cancer risk (OR=2.0 [CI=1.7–2.5]) overall. For whites the OR was 1.9 (CI=1.5–2.4), while for blacks it was 2.8 (2.1–3.8) (p for interaction=0.11). ORs increased with time after hypertension diagnosis (p for trend <0.001), reaching 4.1 (CI=2.3–7.4) for blacks and 2.6 (CI=1.7–4.1) for whites after 25 years. ORs for poorly controlled hypertension were 4.5 (CI=2.3–8.8) for blacks and 2.1 (CI=1.2–3.8) for whites. If these estimates correctly represent causal effects and if, hypothetically, hypertension could be prevented entirely among persons aged 50–79 years, the black/white disparity in renal cancer could be reversed among women and reduced by two-thirds among men. CONCLUSIONS Hypertension is a risk factor for renal cancer among both blacks and whites, and might explain a substantial portion of the racial disparity in renal cancer incidence. Preventing and controlling hypertension might reduce renal cancer incidence, adding to the known benefits of blood pressure control for heart disease and stroke reduction, particularly among blacks.

Complex sample designs, involving stratified and/or multistage sampling with sample weighting, along with frequency matching, are used to select controls or cases for case-control studies. Examples that motivated this paper are the Kaposi sarcoma case-control study that was conducted in Sicily and the US kidney cancer case-control study. Survey design-based approaches can be inefficient for the analysis of case-control studies with frequency matching. We propose a weighting method that post-stratifies control sample weights to the estimated population distribution of the matching variables among cases. This weighting maintains the efficiency of frequency matching.The method proposed is evaluated by using simulation studies and is applied to the two case-control studies.

A sample frame is the listing of the units from which a sample is to be selected. When deciding upon a file to serve as a source for a sample frame for a survey, perhaps the most important consideration is the extent to which the target population will be covered by the frame. However, other issues also come into play such as the accuracy of contact and other information appearing on the file as well as its cost. The American Medical Association Masterfile has long been considered the preferred choice for surveys of physicians, although it does have drawbacks. Here we consider two alternative files, discussing their relative advantages and disadvantages. For surveys of physician practices (or other organizations that employ physicians), there have been no files that are obvious choices to serve as the basis for a sample frame. Here we discuss data collection on physician practices from an analytic perspective and consider how sampling physicians to obtain practice level data may be a desirable approach.

Objectives: The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study is a nationally representative study of the US population on tobacco use and its effects on health, with 3 waves of data collection between 2013 and 2016. Prior work described the methods of the first wave. In this paper, we describe the methods of the subsequent 2 waves and provide recommendations for how to conduct longitudinal analyses of PATH Study data. Methods: We use standard survey quality metrics to evaluate the results of the follow-up waves of the PATH Study. The recommendations and examples of longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses of PATH Study data follow a design-based statistical inference framework. Results: The quality metrics indicate that the PATH Study sample of approximately 40,000 continuing respondents remains representative of its target population. Depending on the intended analysis, different survey weights may be appropriate. Conclusion: The PATH Study data are a valuable resource for regulatory scientists interested in longitudinal analysis of tobacco use and its effects on health. The availability of multiple sets of specialized survey weights enables researchers to target a wide range of tobacco-related analytic questions.

Objective Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) incidence is higher among blacks than whites in the United States, and has been associated with the frequency and timing of childbirth among women in some epidemiologic studies. We investigated whether reproductive factors are associated with RCC, overall and by race, within a population-based case-control study. Methods Between 2002 and 2007, 497 female cases of incident RCC (136 black, 361 white) and 546 female controls (273 black, 273 white) within the Detroit and Chicago metropolitan areas were enrolled. Information on reproductive history and other factors was collected through in-person interviews. Multivariate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using unconditional logistic regression. Results Reduced RCC risk was observed among women aged ≥30 years at first live birth, relative to an age of <20 years (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3–0.9). This association was present among both white (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2–0.9) and, though not statistically significant, black women (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.2–1.8). In analyses restricted to clear cell adenocarcinoma, the most common RCC histologic subtype, the association was particularly strong (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2–0.8). We did not observe clear evidence of association with RCC for other reproductive factors. Conclusions Our findings further support an association between late maternal age at first birth and reduced RCC risk, and suggest that the association may be particularly strong for clear cell adenocarcinoma.