Abstract
The concentrations of retinol and beta carotene were measured in serum samples taken from 113 women with cervical cancer, 32 with invasive and 81 with pre-invasive disease, and compared with those from 226 age-matched control women. There was little difference in serum retinol levels between women with cancer of the cervix, at any stage, and the control women, after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Serum beta carotene concentrations were likewise similar in women with invasive disease and the controls. However mean beta carotene levels were significantly reduced in women with pre-invasive disease compared to the controls (221.3 cf. 291.6 micrograms l-1, P less than 0.05). This reduction was more evident amongst women with a diagnosis of carcinoma-in-situ (mean 213.1 micrograms l-1 than amongst those with severe dysplasia (mean 228.7 micrograms l-1. There is a negative trend between beta carotene and risk of pre-invasive disease which is of borderline significance. These data have also been used to investigate the effects of smoking and oral contraceptive usage on the serum levels of retinol and beta carotene. Both habits tend to increase retinol and decrease beta carotene concentrations.
Highlights
This paper reports an examination of retinol and P-carotene in serum samples remaining from a previously published study (Harris et al, 1980) based on women with dysplasia, carcinomain-situ, and invasive cancer of the uterine cervix and on an age-matched control group of women
The mean serum retinol and corrected f-carotene levels are shown in Table I for patients with each stage of the disease and for all the control women
The mean levels of serum retinol are very similar in cases of all the disease categories and in cases and controls after full adjustment
Summary
Women with invasive cancer of the cervix or with pre-invasive disease and a control group of women with various benign gynaecological problems were interviewed between 1975 and 1979 at two hospitals and a health centre in Oxfordshire. A sexual, obstetric and contraceptive history was obtained from each woman and blood samples were taken at the time of interview from most of those who participated in the study. In all cases of preinvasive disease, blood samples were taken prior to any treatment, whilst most invasive cancer patients were undergoing radiotherapy at the time of sampling. Interviews were conducted in hospital out-patient clinics. The blood was centrifuged and the serum stored at -40°C. The major epidemiological aspects of this study have been reported previously (Harris et al, 1980)
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