Francis Carter Wood and the birth of population-based cancer surveillance.

The founding of the National Cancer Institute in 1937 was attended by the formation of the National Advisory Council on Cancer. A seminal action by this Council was the funding of the First National Cancer Survey, the first population-based cancer surveillance activity of the federal government. Francis Carter Wood, distinguished cancer researcher and editor of the American Journal of Cancer (predecessor to Cancer Research), was a member of that Council, through which he was a prime mover in the funding of this survey.

Finding our roots: early population-based cancer registration, 1925.

In 1925, the American Public Health Association Committee on Control of Cancer presented the results of its 1924-1925 operations at the association's annual meeting. The Committee evaluated the issue of cancer surveillance, both active and passive, and concluded that the probity of the cancer incidence data, however useful it might be, was outweighed by the likely cost. The reasoning provided by the Committee suggests a sophisticated understanding of many aspects of cancer epidemiology often thought to be a post-World War II development.

Historical vignette: Leonard T. Kurland, FACE (1921-2001), the rise of neuroepidemiology, and the Rochester Epidemiology Project.

The creation of the field of neuroepidemiology was one of the two principal professional achievements of the American College of Epidemiology Fellow Leonard T. Kurland (1921-2001), the other being the establishment of the Rochester Project. In the former, Kurland established the role of the neuroepidemiologists in the development of the corpus of knowledge needed to control and prevent the occurrence of neurological conditions.

Louis I. Dublin and the development of the observational study: the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company natural history (cohort) studies of typhoid fever and scarlet fever.

During 1911-1914, using the resources of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Louis I. Dublin conducted two national studies into the survival of those surviving episodes of typhoid fever or scarlet fever. He identified an elevated risk of such mortality, associated with specific causes of death, among those having had typhoid fever but not among the scarlet fever survivors.

Harold Fred Dorn and the First National Cancer Survey (1937-1939): the founding of modern cancer epidemiology.

The development of modern epidemiology, particularly cancer epidemiology, is often seen as a post-World War II phenomenon. However, the First National Cancer Survey, conducted from 1937 to 1939 as part of the newly formed National Cancer Institute's initial activities, provided the first data on the occurrence of cancer in the United States. This project was directed by a young sociologist, Harold Fred Dorn.

The first pharmacoepidemiologic investigations: national drug safety policy in the United States, 1901-1902.

The pharmaceutical industry developed in the late 19th century as a consequence of both scientific and commercial innovations, such as the development of diphtheria antitoxin and the commercialization of smallpox vaccine. Two tetanus outbreaks in 1901 -- from contaminated diphtheria antitoxin in St. Louis, Missouri, and contaminated smallpox vaccine in Camden, New Jersey -- raised public concern about pharmaceutical safety.

Increased mortality in African Americans with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) is a progressive disorder that usually culminates in right ventricular failure and death without treatment.

Objective: To assess mortality trends by race and gender for idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension in the United States from 1994-1998.

Methods: The U.

Abe and Yak: the interactions of Abraham M. Lilienfeld and Jacob Yerushalmy in the development of modern epidemiology (1945-1973).

This paper explores the relationship between 2 persons much involved in the development of modern epidemiology, Jacob Yerushalmy and Abraham M. Lilienfeld. The formation of that relationship is described and the resulting influences by each individual on the other's professional work are discussed.

The general epidemiologist: is there a place in today's epidemiology?

Epidemiology has changed remarkably during its growth in the past quarter century. One of those changes has been the ever-increasing specialization among its practitioners. In this commentary, the author explores the degree to which this phenomenon has shaped the field.

The epidemiology of pulmonary embolism: racial contrasts in incidence and in-hospital case fatality.

Mortality from pulmonary embolism (PE) has declined in the United States over the past two decades, yet significant racia l disparities persist with the age-adjusted rates for blacks about twice those for whites. Incidence studies to date have not been successful in defining reasons for this disparity, primarily because they have not enrolled sufficient numbers of blacks to allow for racial comparisons. This study overcomes that limitation by using New Jersey hospital discharge data as a surrogate measure for PE incidence.

Incidence of small bowel cancer in the United States and worldwide: geographic, temporal, and racial differences.

Objective: To examine the demographic and geographic patterns of small bowel cancer incidence in the United States and worldwide.

Methods: Incidence data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program between 1973 to 2000 were used to analyze the four histologic types of small bowel cancer, adenocarcinomas, carcinoid tumors, lymphomas, and sarcomas. International comparisons were made using data from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (CIVIII).

Pharmacoepidemiology 101: data monitoring committees in the post-marketing approval setting.

The development of the risk management paradigm for the enhancement of post-marketing approval drug safety carries with it the need for external monitoring of the different approaches used by the sponsor. The concept of a Data Monitoring Committee (DMC), widely used in the management of randomized clinical trials, is adapted to provide this monitoring function. The rationale for the post-marketing approval DMC is considered in the context of the risk management paradigm, as well as in the more traditional post-marketing approval surveillance setting.