Results of clinical effectiveness of conventional versus Mirasol-treated Apheresis Platelets in Patients with Hypoproliferative Thrombocytopenia (MiPLATE) trial.

Background: The Mirasol® Pathogen Reduction Technology System was developed to reduce transfusion-transmitted diseases in platelet (PLT) products.

Study Design And Methods: MiPLATE trial was a prospective, multicenter, controlled, randomized, non-inferiority (NI) study of the clinical effectiveness of conventional versus Mirasol-treated Apheresis PLTs in participants with hypoproliferative thrombocytopenia. The novel primary endpoint was days of ≥Grade 2 bleeding with an NI margin of 1.

Intensive Weight Loss Intervention and Cancer Risk in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: Analysis of the Look AHEAD Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: This study was designed to determine whether intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) aimed at weight loss lowers cancer incidence and mortality.

Methods: Data from the Look AHEAD trial were examined to investigate whether participants randomized to ILI designed for weight loss would have reduced overall cancer incidence, obesity-related cancer incidence, and cancer mortality, as compared with the diabetes support and education (DSE) comparison group. This analysis included 4,859 participants without a cancer diagnosis at baseline except for nonmelanoma skin cancer.

Adult weight gain accelerates the onset of breast cancer.

Purpose: Weight gain in adulthood is a risk factor for breast cancer; however, the impact on age of onset is unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate whether weight gain from early- to mid-adulthood influenced the timing of breast cancer onset.

Methods: Increase in body mass index (BMI) from lowest adult BMI to BMI at diagnosis and age at which these events occurred were calculated from breast cancer survivors enrolled in a weight loss trial (n = 660).

The Interaction between Genetic Ancestry and Breast Cancer Risk Factors among Hispanic Women: The Breast Cancer Health Disparities Study.

Hispanic women have lower breast cancer incidence rates than non-Hispanic white (NHW) women. To what extent genetic versus nongenetic factors account for this difference is unknown. Using logistic regression, we evaluated the interactive influences of established risk factors and ethnicity (self-identified and identified by ancestral informative markers) on breast cancer risk among 2,326 Hispanic and 1,854 NHW postmenopausal women from the United States and Mexico in the Breast Cancer Health Disparities Study.

Smoking-Cessation Treatment: Use Trends Among Non-Hispanic White and English-Speaking Hispanic/Latino Smokers, Colorado 2001-2012.

Introduction: Most smokers who try to quit do not use an evidence-based treatment (EBT), and in 2001, Hispanic/Latino quit-attempters were about half as likely as non-Hispanic white (NHW) quit-attempters to use one. This study analyzed the patterns of EBT use in Colorado across a recent decade, 2001-2012.

Methods: Data were from The Attitudes and Behaviors Survey, a random cross-sectional population-level telephone survey.

Impact of a behavioral weight loss intervention on comorbidities in overweight and obese breast cancer survivors.

Purpose: Comorbid medical conditions are common among breast cancer survivors, contribute to poorer long-term survival and increased overall mortality, and may be ameliorated by weight loss. This secondary analysis evaluated the impact of a weight loss intervention on comorbid medical conditions immediately following an intervention (12 months) and 1-year postintervention (24 months) using data from the Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good health for You (ENERGY) trial-a phase III trial which was aimed at and successfully promoted weight loss.

Methods: ENERGY randomized 692 overweight/obese women who had completed treatment for early stage breast cancer to either a 1-year group-based behavioral intervention designed to achieve and maintain weight loss or to a less intensive control intervention.

Quality of life outcomes from the Exercise and Nutrition Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You (ENERGY)-randomized weight loss trial among breast cancer survivors.

Obesity is a poor prognostic factor and is negatively related to quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer survivors. Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You is the largest weight loss trial completed among cancer survivors. Percent losses in body weight with an intensive group-based intervention versus an attention control were 6.

Results of the Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You (ENERGY) Trial: A Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention in Overweight or Obese Breast Cancer Survivors.

Purpose: Obesity increases risk for all-cause and breast cancer mortality and comorbidities in women who have been diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. The Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You (ENERGY) study is the largest weight loss intervention trial among survivors of breast cancer to date.

Methods: In this multicenter trial, 692 overweight/obese women who were, on average, 2 years since primary treatment for early-stage breast cancer were randomly assigned to either a group-based behavioral intervention, supplemented with telephone counseling and tailored newsletters, to support weight loss or a less intensive control intervention and observed for 2 years.

Surveillance and beliefs about follow-up care among long-term breast cancer survivors: a comparison of primary care and oncology providers.

Purpose: Delivery of follow-up care to breast cancer survivors is an important public health issue due to their increasing number and the anticipated shortage of oncology providers. This study evaluated adherence to American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)-recommended surveillance tests in a bi-ethnic cohort of long-term breast cancer survivors.

Methods: Women (n = 298) in Arizona and Colorado who had previously participated in a population-based study of breast cancer were enrolled into a follow-up survey approximately 6 years post-diagnosis.

Physical activity levels of overweight or obese breast cancer survivors: correlates at entry into a weight loss intervention study.

Purpose: Physical activity is associated with reduced risk and progression of breast cancer, and exercise can improve physical function, quality of life, and fatigue in cancer survivors. Evidence on factors associated with cancer survivors' adherence to physical activity guidelines from the American Cancer Society and the U.S.

Correlates of quality of life in overweight or obese breast cancer survivors at enrollment into a weight loss trial.

Objective: The purpose of this analysis was to examine the correlates of the physical and psychosocial domains of quality of life (QOL) in a cohort of breast cancer survivors participating in a weight loss intervention trial.

Methods: Correlates of QOL and psychosocial functioning were examined in 692 overweight or obese breast cancer survivors at entry into a weight loss trial. QOL was explored with three measures: Short-form 36 (SF-36), Impact of Cancer scale (IOC), and the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (BCPT) symptom scales.

Lack of significant association between serum inflammatory cytokine profiles and the presence of colorectal adenoma.

Background: Inflammatory cytokines in the colonic microenvironment have been shown to increase with advance colorectal cancer disease state. However, the contribution of inflammatory cytokines to pre-malignant disease, such as the formation of adenomas, is unclear.

Methods: Using the Milliplex® MAP Human Cytokine/ Chemokine Magnetic Bead Panel Immunoassay, serum cytokine and chemokine profiles were assayed among participants without an adenoma (n = 97) and those with an adenoma (n = 97) enrolled in the NCI-funded Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Colon Study.

Body fatness as a cause of cancer: epidemiologic clues to biologic mechanisms.

Carrying excess body fat is a leading cause of cancer. Epidemiologic evidence gives strong clues about the mechanisms that link excess adiposity to risk for several cancer sites. For postmenopausal breast cancer and endometrial cancer, the hyper-estrogenic state that is induced by excess body fatness is the likely cause.

Weight gain prior to entry into a weight-loss intervention study among overweight and obese breast cancer survivors.

Purpose: Changes in cancer therapy, in addition to changes in obesity prevalence, suggest the need for a current assessment of weight gain patterns following breast cancer diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors associated with weight gain among breast cancer survivors prior to enrolling into a behavioral weight loss intervention.

Methods: Anthropometric measures and data on weight-related factors were collected at baseline on 665 breast cancer survivors.

Long-term weight gain among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women with and without breast cancer.

Weight gain following breast cancer diagnosis is common, but limited data exists on whether this gain is in excess of that gained during normal aging. This study investigated weight patterns among women with and without breast cancer to determine the effects of the breast cancer experience on weight change. Using the SHINE 4-Corners Breast Cancer Study, 305 women with breast cancer and 345 women without were followed prospectively.

Reducing breast cancer recurrence with weight loss, a vanguard trial: the Exercise and Nutrition to Enhance Recovery and Good Health for You (ENERGY) Trial.

Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer among women in developed countries. Obesity is a major risk factor for breast cancer recurrence and mortality in both pre- and postmenopausal women. Co-morbid medical conditions are common among breast cancer survivors.

Systemic markers of oxidative status and colorectal adenomatous polyps.

Purpose: Oxidative damage has been implicated in carcinogenesis. We hypothesized that elevated systemic oxidative status would be associated with later occurrence of colorectal adenomatous polyps, a precursor of colorectal cancer.

Methods: We examined the prospective association between four systemic markers of oxidative status and colorectal adenomatous polyps within a nondiabetic subcohort of the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (n = 425).

Increase in circulating levels of IGF-1 and IGF-1/IGFBP-3 molar ratio over a decade is associated with colorectal adenomatous polyps.

High levels of circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) have been associated with increased risk of several cancers. Regarding colorectal cancer, these associations are generally weak. We hypothesized that an increase in IGF-1 over time would be a stronger risk factor for cancer-related outcomes than the actual levels.

Lack of association between insulin sensitivity and colorectal adenoma risk.

Insulin resistance is thought to mediate the association between obesity and colorectal neoplasia, but no prior studies have assessed stimulated insulin sensitivity as a risk factor for colorectal neoplasia. This prospective study examined the association between insulin sensitivity measured directly using the frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIGT) and later risk of colorectal adenomas. Among participants with a range of glucose tolerance levels enrolled in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study, colonoscopies were conducted on 600 participants ages ≥50 yr, regardless of symptoms, about 10 yr after the first FSIGT and 5 yr after the second.

Combined antioxidant carotenoids and the risk of persistent human papillomavirus infection.

Persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is the primary etiologic factor for cervical cancer. The synergistic effect of carotenoids on HPV persistence has not been examined. To explore these potential synergies, we developed 2 measures of carotenoid status using circulating and dietary intake nutrients in which each nutrient was given equal weighting.

Predictors of non-adherence to aromatase inhibitors among commercially insured women with breast cancer.

The purpose of this study is to investigate 1-year adherence rates to aromatase inhibitors (AI) and to determine risk factors for non-adherence among commercially insured post-menopausal breast cancer patients. A retrospective cohort of 13,593 commercially insured breast cancer patients with a prescription claim for an AI therapy (exemestane, anastrozole, and letrozole) in 2006 were identified using the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database. Adherence was calculated by the medication possession ratio (MPR) for a 1-year period following the initial claim in 2006.

Gender differences in self-reported symptom awareness and perceived ability to manage therapy with disease-modifying medication among commercially insured multiple sclerosis patients.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, neurodegenerative inflammatory disease that affects approximately 400,000 Americans, the majority of whom are female. Although MS prevalence is higher among females, males are more likely to have a more progressive clinical course. For both genders, use of disease-modifying medications (DMMs) in the clinical management of MS is pivotal in altering the natural course and diminishing progressive disability over time.

The influence of targeted education on medication persistence and generic substitution among consumer-directed health care enrollees.

Objective: To evaluate an educational outreach among consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) enrollees on medication persistence and lower-cost generic substitution within four chronic medication therapies.

Study Setting: A cross-sectional analysis using pharmacy claims data from a national employer group that began offering a CDHP in 2006 and implemented an educational outreach to some CDHP enrollees in 2007 was used.

Methods: The intervention group was comprised of CDHP enrollees who received education outreach and was compared with CDHP enrollees without the educational outreach.

Lowering copayments: impact of simvastatin patent expiration on patient adherence.

Objective: To assess the impact of a decrease in statin copayments on medication adherence and demand for statins.

Study Design: Quasi-experimental, pre/post design.

Methods: Patients in more than 700 health plans from June 2005 to May 2007 were evaluated.