Sex-specific Cancer Research Articles

Cancer Morbidity Atlas of the Saarland: an outline of the model project for the analysis of health and environmental data in the Saarland.

The Cancer Morbidity Atlas of the Saarland was prepared by Dornier System in the first stage of the “Model project for the analysis of health and environmental data in the Saarland,” financed by the German Federal Government, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, and the Government of the Saarland. The atlas presents age-standardized sex-specific cancer incidence rates for the years 1975–1981 in a fine regional disaggregation, taking as regional units the 50 communities of the Saarland. Data were provided by the Cancer Registry of the Saarland, the only cancer registry in operation in the Federal Republic of Germany at the moment. In the second stage of the project, data for the period 1975–1984 will be analyzed with respect to time trends and differences in age-specific incidence. Furthermore an ecological correlation analysis will be performed, relating regional variation in cancer incidence for specific sites to sophisticated indicators of the quality of the health system and environment after adjustment for differential smoking patterns. An outline of the method of analysis is given by Schäfer (1987).KeywordsCancer IncidenceCancer RegistryFederal RepublicModel ProjectMultiplicative ModelThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Perceptions of seriously ill patients: Does diagnosis make a difference?

One hundred fifty-five undergraduates taking an introductory class in psychology read descriptions of patients who were either male or female and had one of three serious illnesses: sex-specific cancer (breast or prostate), heart attack or lung cancer. Subjects then completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of and reactions to these descriptions. Two-way ANOVAs (sex by diagnostic category) on each of 13 questions revealed significant differences on 4 of the 13 questions for diagnostic category and 1 of the 4 questions also revealed a significant sex effect. Student-Newman-Keuls comparisons revealed that patients with sex-specific cancer were seen as more difficult to talk to about their illness, less at fault for their illness, more likely to be embarrassed when an acquaintance finds out, and more likely to experience sexual adjustment problems. Males were also seen as more likely to experience sexual difficulties than females regardless of diagnosis. Implications of these findings for those who work with patients are discussed.

Drinking water and cancer incidence in Iowa. III. Association of cancer with indices of contamination.

With data from the Iowa Cancer Registry, age-adjusted sex-specific cancer incidence rates for the years 1969-1981 were determined for towns with a population of 1,000-10,000 and a public water supply from a single stable ground source. These rates were related to levels of volatile organic compounds and metals found in the finished drinking water of these towns in the spring of 1979. Results showed association between 1,2 dichloroethane and cancers of the colon and rectum and between nickel and cancers of the bladder and lung. The effects were most clearly seen in males. These associations were independent of other water quality and treatment variables and were not explained by occupational or other sociodemographic features including smoking. Because of the low levels of the metals and organics, the authors suggest that they are not causal factors, but rather indicators of possible anthropogenic contamination of other types. The data suggest that water quality variables other than chlorination and trihalomethanes deserve further consideration as to their role in the development of human cancer.

Lung cancer incidence and air pollution in Erie County, New York.

Demographic data on race, sex, age, and address at diagnosis were obtained on the 2,201 lung cancer cases from Erie County, reported to the New York State tumor registry during the period 1973 to 1976. Multivariate regression analysis was done to evaluate the association between age-adjusted race- and sex-specific lung cancer incidence rates by census tracts and air pollution as indexed by total suspended particulates, several trace metals, and benzo(a)pyrene. Total suspended particulates was the strongest ambient air quality variable found to be associated with lung cancer incidence in white males, all males, the white population, and the total population. Regression analyses did not provide any evidence for an association between ambient air trace metals or ambient benzo(a)-pyrene and lung cancer incidence. The findings have provided the basis for some limited conclusions and have offered the opportunity to propose more refined hypotheses.

Drinking water and cancer incidence in Iowa. II. Radioactivity in drinking water.

Iowa towns of 1000-10,000 population, whose water came solely from wells of over 500 feet (152 meters) in depth and was not treated by a process that would remove radioactivity, were identified. Age-adjusted, sex-specific, cancer incidence rates were determined for these towns for the years 1969-1978 (excluding 1972) and related to the mean level of radium-226 in the municipal water supply. Incidence rates of cancers of the lung and bladder among males and of cancers of the breast and lung among females were higher in towns with a radium-226 level in the water supply exceeding 5.0 pCi/l. A gradient of increasing cancer incidence associated with rising radioactivity level for three time periods was also seen for lung cancer among males. The associations between cancer incidence and radioactivity of water supply could not be explained by smoking patterns, water treatment factors, other water quality measurements, or known socio-demographic features.

Drinking water and cancer incidence in Iowa. I. Trends and incidence by source of drinking water and size of municipality.

Age-adjusted, sex-specific cancer incidence rates for the years 1969-1978 were determined for municipalities in Iowa having a population of 1000 or over and public water supply that had remained stable for a minimum of 14 years. The incidence rates for the municipalities were examined according to major source of water supply (surface or ground) and depth of well. As municipality size increased, incidence rates increased for cancer of the lung among males and females. A slight gradient of increasing cancer incidence was seen for cancer of the bladder among males and females. When stratified for population size, incidence rates for cancers of the lung and rectum among males and females were higher for municipalities on surface water compared with those on ground sources. Incidence rates for cancer of the prostate rose as well depth increased, while a trend was seen toward decreasing incidence rates for cancer of the colon among females as well depth increased. When time trends were examined, an increase in cancer rates over time was seen for several cancer sites, with the increase most noticeable in municipalities supplied by surface water or shallow wells. These results are not always consistent with the hypothesis of an association between cancer and chlorinated water.

The spatial autocorrelation of cancer mortality.

Studying the geographic variations in cancer mortality can be useful as a means for generating etiologic hypotheses, providing support or casting doubt on existing hypotheses, and suggesting places and scales for future epidemiological research. A descriptive statistical technique, spatial autocorrelation analysis, is introduced and suggested as a method which might enable the researcher to glean more useful information from spatial patterns of disease mortality. An empirical study of the county pattern of cancer in Pennsylvania is provided as an illustration of the potential of this technique. Considerable variation in the degree of spatial autocorrelation was found among the nine sex-specific cancer patterns studied. Three different pair-wise weighting or linkage schemes were used to further explore the spatial structure of the mortality rates. Finally, a spatial autocorrelation function was estimated for those patterns which displayed significant first-order autocorrelation (cancer of the lung, the stomach and the bladder). The shapes of these functions provided further insight into the mortality pattern and this information was evaluated in relation to current etiologic hypotheses.

Associations of Cancer Mortality With Halomethanes in Drinking Water

Associations between site- and sex-specific county cancer mortality rates and levels of trihalomethanes (THM's) in drinking water were examined after adjustment of rates for the influence of multiple socioeconomic, industrial, and demographic factors. U.S. counties with sampled supplies were grouped by percent of the county population receiving water from the supply, as well as by region of the country. For two sites (bladder and lung), county rates were also adjusted for the activity level in specific high-risk industries. Positive correlations with THM levels were observed for several cancers, including bladder and brain cancers in both sexes, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and kidney cancer in males. Stomach cancer in females showed a negative association. Bladder cancer mortality rates showed the strongest and most consistent association with a THM exposure index, after control for differences in social class, ethnic group, urban versus rural residence, region of the United States, and industrialization of the county. These ecologic associations suggested that further evaluation in analytic investigations is warranted.