Abstract
BackgroundNasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a commonly diagnosed cancer in Southeast Asia. Many studies have examined the risk factors for NPC, yet the roles of some risk factors remain inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between modifiable lifestyle factors and the risk of NPC in the Singaporean population.MethodsWe conducted a case–control study in Singapore with 300 patients and 310 controls who were recruited between 2008 and 2012. Each control was selected and individually matched to each patient based on sex, ethnicity, and age (±5 years). A total of 290 pairs of cases and controls were matched successfully. We examined lifestyle factors such as tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, various salted and preserved food consumption, and weaning practices.ResultsAfter adjusting for covariates, multivariate analysis showed that those participants who were current smokers and had ever smoked tobacco had a higher risk of NPC than participants who had never smoked, with odds ratios (ORs) of 4.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.58–7.86; P < 0.001) and 2.52 (95% CI 1.54–4.12; P < 0.001), respectively. Those who consumed salted vegetables at least once a week also showed a significantly increased risk of NPC than those who never or rarely consumed salted vegetables, with an OR of 4.18 (95% CI 1.69–10.38; P = 0.002).ConclusionSmoking (currently and ever-smoked) and consuming salted vegetables once a week or more were lifestyle risk factors for NPC, and changes of these factors for the better may reduce the risk of NPC.
Highlights
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a commonly diagnosed cancer in Southeast Asia
Studies conducted in Taiwan, China [5], in Thailand [6, 7], in Wuhan, China [8], in Shanghai, China [14], and in the United States [22] found that smoking was a risk factor for NPC, other studies in Singapore [17], Malaysia [33], Serbia [34], and China [35] found the association to be less clear but did suggest that the inhalation of passive smoke during childhood could affect the risk of developing NPC [34]
In summary, we found that certain modifiable risk factors, namely smoking and frequent consumption of salted vegetables, contribute significantly to the development of NPC
Summary
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a commonly diagnosed cancer in Southeast Asia. Many studies have examined the risk factors for NPC, yet the roles of some risk factors remain inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between modifiable lifestyle factors and the risk of NPC in the Singaporean population. Numerous studies have been conducted in Southeast Asia to identify risk factors related to the development of NPC [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. Some of these studies suggested that NPC results from an interaction of genetic and environmental factors [7, 10, 11, 15]. Studies of the Chinese population in China reported that multiple food items, including preserved and fermented foods, were significantly associated with NPC
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