Highlights of This Issue

Abstract

Kennedy and colleagues reported on the establishment of a web-based Cancer Epidemiology Descriptive Cohort Database (CEDCD) with goals to enhance awareness of resources, facilitate interdisciplinary research collaborations, and support existing cohorts for the study of cancer-related outcomes. The CEDCD includes data from 46 cohorts representing more than 6.5 million individuals. Genotyping has been performed by 67% of the cohorts, while 46% have performed whole genome or exome sequencing in subsets of enrolled individuals. The CEDCD assembles detailed descriptive information on a large number of cancer cohorts in a searchable database.Asian Americans are the fastest growing U.S. population, yet trends and patterns in the mortality burden of cancer among Asian American ethnic groups have not been documented. Thompson and colleagues reported on rates, standardized mortality ratios, and modeled trends in cancer-related mortality in different Asian American ethnicities from 2003 to 2011. Stomach and liver cancer mortality was very high, particularly among Chinese, Koreans, and Vietnamese, for whom these two cancer types combined accounted for 15–25% of cancer deaths. In Asian American women, lung cancer was a leading cause of death.Physician communication about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a key determinant of uptake. Malo and colleagues sought to identify messages that help motivate HPV vaccination by surveying national samples of parents of adolescents and primary care physicians. The highest proportion of parents and physicians found this brief message to be persuasive: “I strongly believe in the importance of this cancer-preventing vaccine for [child's name].” Parents' endorsement did not vary by race/ethnicity, education, child age, or child sex. The findings support physicians' use of these messages with parents to help motivate uptake of this important cancer-preventing vaccine.Berkowitz and colleagues developed multilevel small area estimate models to generate county-level estimates for six smoking status categories. The authors constructed and fitted a series of multilevel logistic regression models and applied them to the U.S. Census population to generate county-level prevalence estimates. They found large variations in current and former smoking status between and within states and by sex. County prevalence of former smokers was highest among men in the Northeast, North, and West. Utah consistently had the lowest smoking prevalence. These detailed county and state smoking category estimates can help identify areas in need of tobacco control and prevention.