Cancer mortality following treatment for adult hyperthyroidism. Cooperative Thyrotoxicosis Therapy Follow-up Study Group.

Context: High-dose iodine 131 is the treatment of choice in the United States for most adults with hyperthyroid disease. Although there is little evidence to link therapeutic (131)I to the development of cancer, its extensive medical use indicates the need for additional evaluation.

Objective: To evaluate cancer mortality among hyperthyroid patients, particularly after (131)I treatment.

Calcium channel blockers and the risk of cancer.

Context: Recent epidemiologic studies have raised the concern that calcium channel blocker use may increase the risk of cancer overall and of several specific cancers.

Objective: To assess whether calcium channel blocker use increases the risk of cancer overall and of specific cancers.

Design: Case-control drug surveillance study based on data collected from 1983 to 1996.

Transitional cell cancer of the urinary tract and renal cell cancer in relation to acetaminophen use (United States).

Experimental and epidemiologic evidence have suggested that phenacetin use increases the risk of transitional cell cancers of the urinary tract. The drug is no longer marketed but a commonly used metabolite, acetaminophen, has been linked recently to an increased risk of renal cancer. We assessed the relation of acetaminophen use to the risk of transitional cell cancer of the urinary tract and of renal cell cancer with data from a hospital-based study of cancers and medication use conducted from 1976-96 in the eastern United States.

Induced and spontaneous abortion in relation to risk of breast cancer (United States).

The relation of induced and spontaneous abortion to the risk of breast cancer is evaluated in a hospital-based case-control interview study conducted in three cities in the United States from 1985 through 1995. Cases were 1,803 women aged 25 to 64 years with newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer; controls were 4,182 women of the same ages admitted for conditions unrelated to reproductive factors. Other breast cancer risk-factors were controlled through multiple logistic regression.

Adult height and risk of breast cancer among white women in a case-control study.

Data from a hospital-based case-control study were analyzed to evaluate the relation of adult height to the risk of breast cancer among white women. The authors compared 5,358 newly diagnosed breast cancer cases and 4,555 controls interviewed from 1976 to 1992 in hospitals located mainly in the United States. Overall, there was no association between stature and risk of breast cancer.

Case-control study of oral contraceptive use and risk of breast cancer.

The relation of oral contraceptive use to the risk of breast cancer in white women aged 25-59 years was assessed with data collected during 1977-1992 in a case-control surveillance system in hospitals in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. A total of 3,540 cases with breast cancer were compared with 4,488 controls with nonmalignant nongynecologic conditions unrelated to oral contraceptive use. Relative risk estimates were obtained by unconditional logistic regression with control for major risk factors.

Oral contraceptive use and breast cancer risk among African-American women.

Recent epidemiologic studies, most of them in predominantly White populations, have suggested that long duration of oral contraceptive (OC) use may increase the risk of breast cancer at young ages. We assessed the relationship of OC use to the risk of breast cancer in African-American women aged 25 to 59 years, using interview data from a multipurpose hospital-based case-control study. Five hundred and twenty-four cases hospitalized for invasive breast cancer were compared with 1,021 controls with nonmalignant conditions unrelated to OC use.

Relation of benzodiazepine use to the risk of selected cancers: breast, large bowel, malignant melanoma, lung, endometrium, ovary, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, testis, Hodgkin's disease, thyroid, and liver.

Some animal data have raised the possibility that benzodiazepines influence the risk of selected cancers. With data collected in 1977-1991 in a US hospital-based study, the authors assessed the relation of benzodiazepine use to the risk of 11 cancers: breast (6,056 patients), large bowel (2,203), malignant melanoma (1,457), lung (1,365), endometrium (812), ovary (767), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (382), testis (314), Hodgkin's disease (299), thyroid (111), and liver (37). Cases were compared with cancer controls (3,777 patients with other cancers) and noncancer controls (1,919 patients admitted for acute nonmalignant disorders).

Adult height and risk of breast cancer among US black women.

Adult height has been positively associated with the risk of breast cancer in a number of recent investigations. The authors assessed height in relation to breast cancer risk in a case-control study of US black women aged 25-69 years; 674 hospital patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer and 1,155 controls hospitalized for nonmalignant conditions unrelated to height were interviewed. After control for multiple confounders, the relative risk estimate for women < 61 inches (< 154.

The relation of vasectomy to the risk of cancer.

We previously reported a strong positive association between vasectomy and the risk of prostatic cancer that arose in multiple comparisons made within data collected from 1976 to 1988 in an ongoing hospital-based surveillance study of many exposures and diseases. We have reassessed this association with data collected in the surveillance study during 1988-1992 from a new set of patients (355 cases of prostatic cancer and 2,048 controls with nonmalignant conditions). Because some studies have reported increased relative risks of lung cancer and testicular cancer in vasectomized men, we also used the surveillance database (4,126 men with various cancers, 7,027 men with nonmalignant conditions) to assess the relation of vasectomy to the risk of these and other cancers.

A case-control study of oral contraceptive use and invasive epithelial ovarian cancer.

The relation of oral contraceptive use to the risk of ovarian cancer was assessed with data collected during 1977-1991 from patients under 65 years of age in hospitals in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. We compared 441 women with recently diagnosed invasive epithelial ovarian cancer to 2,065 control women. Logistic regression was used to control risk factors for ovarian cancer.

Oral contraceptive use and risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma.

The relation between cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM) and the use of oral contraceptives (OC) was investigated in a case-control study carried out from 1979 to 1991 among patients in hospitals and clinics in the Philadelphia (PA) and New York City (NY) metropolitan areas (United States). Cases were 615 women under age 70 who recently had been diagnosed with invasive melanoma; controls were 2,107 women of the same ages who had been treated for other conditions unrelated either to OC use or to skin diseases. The cases were categorized as severe or nonsevere based on the depth of invasion of the tumor or the presence or absence of metastases.

Estrogen replacement therapy and the risk of breast cancer: results from the case-control surveillance study.

To examine the relation of noncontraceptive estrogen use to the risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women, the authors conducted a case-control study: 1,686 cases were compared with 2,077 hospital control subjects, of whom 1,120 had non-gynecologic cancers and 957 had nonmalignant (also non-gynecologic) conditions. Data were obtained from 1980 to 1986, by interview of subjects in hospitals in the United States and Canada. The relative risk estimate for any use of replacement estrogens unopposed by progestogens was 1.

Breast cancer and cigarette smoking: a hypothesis.

In many studies, cigarette smoking has been associated with a small increase in breast cancer risk. The authors evaluated the relation of smoking to breast cancer risk in two case-control studies carried out from 1982 through 1986. In Canada, 607 women with breast cancer and 1,214 controls matched on decade of age and neighborhood were interviewed at home.

Endometrial cancer and age at last delivery: evidence for an association.

Because the role hormonal and reproductive factors play in the etiology of endometrial cancer is incompletely understood, the authors evaluated the risk of this cancer in relation to age at last delivery. The data were obtained in a hospital-based case-control study of 483 women with endometrial cancer (cases) and 693 women with other conditions (controls) conducted in a number of hospitals in the United States and Canada from 1978 to 1985. There was an inverse association between age at last delivery and endometrial cancer risk: Compared with women who last gave birth before age 25 years, the rate ratio was 0.

A hypothesis: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduce the incidence of large-bowel cancer.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) inhibit prostaglandin synthesis and tumor growth in the rodent colon. We assessed NSAID use in relation to risk of human large-bowel cancer in a hospital-based, case-control study of 1326 patients with colorectal cancer and 4891 control patients. For regular NSAID use that continued into the year before interview, the multivariate relative risk estimate was 0.

Vasectomy and the risk of prostate cancer.

An unexpected association between history of vasectomy and increased risk of prostate cancer emerged when multiple comparisons were carried out in data collected from 1976-1988 in a US hospital-based case-control study of many diseases and exposures. The association was assessed in detail in these data, in a comparison of 220 men with first episodes of prostate cancer with 571 noncancer controls and 960 cancer controls. The age-adjusted relative risk of prostate cancer was 5.

Diazepam use in relation to breast cancer: results from two case-control studies.

The relation between diazepam use and breast cancer was explored in two case-control studies. The first (1981-1987) was a hospital-based study in the United States of 3,078 cases of breast cancer, 1,259 controls with other malignancies, and 672 controls with nonmalignant conditions. The relative risk estimates for regular diazepam use (at least 4 days per week for at least 6 months) that antedated the diagnosis of breast cancer by at least 12 months were 1.

Noncontraceptive estrogen use and epithelial ovarian cancer.

The relation of noncontraceptive estrogen use to epithelial ovarian cancer was evaluated in a case-control study conducted in hospitals mainly in the northeastern United States. There were 377 cases diagnosed within the year before hospital admission and 2,030 hospital controls; data were collected by interview in the hospital. Compared with women who never took noncontraceptive estrogens, the overall relative risk estimate for women whose estrogen use lasted at least one year and was not combined with progestogens or testosterone was 1.

The risks of cancers of the colon and rectum in relation to coffee consumption.

To assess whether recent coffee consumption is related to the incidence of large bowel cancer, the authors analyzed data from a multipurpose hospital-based case-control study of several cancers, conducted from 1978 to 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts, New York, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland: 717 cases of colon cancer and 538 cases of rectal cancer were compared with 3,883 controls admitted for nonmalignant and malignant illnesses unrelated to coffee use. Relative risks were estimated by multiple logistic regression with allowance for age, sex, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and several other potential confounding factors. Overall, relative to the consumption of one cup of coffee per day, the estimated relative risk of colon cancer for consumption of up to four cups per day in the period before admission was close to 1.

Oral contraceptive use and liver cancer.

The risk of liver cancer in relation to use of oral contraceptives was evaluated in a hospital-based case-control study conducted in five US cities from 1977 to 1985. Twelve new cases of liver cancer were identified in women aged 19-54 years; five controls selected from among patients hospitalized for acute conditions unrelated to oral contraceptive use were matched to each case on age (five-year categories), date of interview (three-year categories), and geographic location of the hospital. Among nine cases classified as having hepatocellular carcinoma, eight (89%) had used oral contraceptives; only 16 (36%) of 45 matched controls had used oral contraceptives.

Breast cancer before age 45 and oral contraceptive use: new findings.

The relation between the risk of breast cancer before 45 years of age and oral contraceptive use was examined in a case-control study conducted in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston from 1983 to 1986 of 407 patients with breast cancer and 424 controls. With allowance for confounding, for ever use, the multivariate relative risk estimate was 2.0 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.

Hydralazine use in relation to cancers of the lung, colon, and rectum.

It has been suggested, based on animal experiments and limited human data, that the anti-hypertensive drug hydralazine might be carcinogenic, and among the sites of concern are the lung and colon. To assess the possible relationship between the use of hydralazine and lung and colorectal cancers in humans, we compared 1006 cases of lung cancer with 3531 hospital control subjects, and 972 cases of colorectal cancer with 3276 controls. Data were collected by interview in hospitals in the United States and Canada.

Stomach and colorectal cancers in Puerto Rican-born residents of New York City.

Colorectal cancer incidence and mortality rates for Puerto Rican-born residents in New York City (PR-NYC) for 1975-79 were about two times those for Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico (PR-PR) and one-half to almost two-thirds those for other whites in New York City. From 1958 to 1979, colon cancer mortality rates for PR-NYC increased dramatically (i.e.