Maternal consumption of coffee and tea during pregnancy and risk of childhood brain tumors: results from an Australian case–control study

Purpose

The causes of childhood brain tumors (CBT) are largely unknown, but gestational diet may influence this risk. The aim of this analysis was to investigate whether maternal coffee or tea consumption during pregnancy was associated with the risk of CBT.

Methods

The Australian Study of the Causes of Childhood Brain Tumours was a population-based, Australian case–control study conducted between 2005 and 2010. Case children were recruited from 10 pediatric oncology centers and control children by nationwide random-digit dialing, frequency matched to cases on the basis of age, sex and state of residence. Coffee and tea intake were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire.

Results

Data on coffee and tea consumption during pregnancy were available from 293 case mothers and 726 control mothers. Odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using multivariable unconditional logistic regression. There was little evidence of an association between gestational consumption of any coffee (OR 1.23, 95 % CI 0.92, 1.64) or tea (OR 1.00, 95 % CI 0.74, 1.36) and CBT risk. Among children aged under 5 years, the OR for any coffee consumption during pregnancy was 1.76 (95 % CI 1.09, 2.84) and for ≥2 cups per day during pregnancy was 2.52 (95 % CI 1.26, 5.04). There was little evidence that associations with coffee or tea intake differed by parental smoking status.

Conclusions

These results suggest a positive association between coffee intake ≥2 cups per day and risk of CBT in younger children, although some estimates are imprecise. There was no association between maternal tea drinking and risk of CBT.     

Plasma concentration of Propionibacterium acnes antibodies and prostate cancer risk: results from an Australian population-based case�Ccontrol study

Background:

Recent studies in prostatic tissue suggest that Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes), a bacterium associated with acne that normally lives on the skin, is the most prevalent bacterium in the prostate and in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Its prevalence is higher in samples from patients subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer. The aim of our study was to test whether circulating levels of P. acnes antibodies are associated with prostate cancer risk and tumour characteristics using plasma samples from a population-based case–control study.

Methods:

We measured plasma concentration of P. acnes antibodies for 809 cases and 584 controls using a recently developed ELISA assay. We compared antibody titres between cases and controls using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for batch and variables associated with the study design (i.e., age, year of selection and centre). The primary analysis included P. acnes titres in the model as a dichotomous variable using the median value for controls as the cut-off value.

Results:

P. acnes antibody titres for both cases and controls ranged from 1 : 16 (i.e., low concentration) to 1 : 65 536 (i.e., high concentration; median value=1 : 1024). The odds ratio for prostate cancer associated with titres at or above the median value was 0.73 (95% CI 0.58–0.91, P=0.005). The association appeared to be particularly strong for advanced prostate cancer (AJCC Stage grouping III–IV) for which the odds ratio was 0.59 (95% CI 0.43–0.81, P=0.001) but there was insufficient evidence that the association differed by tumour stage (p heterogeneity=0.07).

Conclusion:

These results need to be confirmed in prospective studies but they are consistent with the hypothesis that P. acnes has a role in prostate cancer.     

Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the risk of childhood acute leukemia： a meta-analysis

Objective: The authors used a meta-analytic technique to quantify the evidence of an association between ma-ternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and childhood acute leukemia (AL), which provided a basis for the prevention of childhood AL. Methods: Relevant literatures of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy were comprehensively searched and screened. Subgroup meta-analysis was conducted according to the type of leukemia. Results of research data of maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy were tested for heterogeneity. Combined OR values and 95% CIs were statistically calculated with RevMan 4.2 software; Funnel plots were applied to conduct bias analysis for those included litera-tures. Results: Ten related literatures were included after data screening, 4593 cases in Al. group and 6157 cases in control group respectively. According to heterogeneity test result (χ2=16.26, P<0.05), the combined OR values and 95% Cl were calculated with random effects model, which were 1.02(0.92-1.14), Z=0.41, P=0.68 > 0.05, indicating that there was no significant difference between maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and the risk of childhood acute leukemia (AL). Subgroup analysis: for the association between maternal alcohol consumption dudng pregnancy and childhood acute lympho-blastic leukemia (ALL), the combined OR value and 95% CI were 0.92 (0.84-1.00), Z=1.92, P=0.05, indicating that there was significant difference between two groups; for the association between maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy and childhood acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL), the combined OR values and 95% Cl were 0.82 (0.61-1.11), Z=1.30, P=0.19>0.05, indicating that there was no significant difference between two groups. Conclusion: Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a risk factor in childhood ALL, but not in childhood ANLL.     

Incomplete pregnancy and risk of ovarian cancer: results from two Australian case–control studies and systematic review

Although full-term pregnancies reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, it has not been conclusively established whether incomplete pregnancies also influence risk. We investigated the relationship between a history of incomplete pregnancy and incident epithelial ovarian cancer among over 4,500 women who participated in two large Australian population-based case–control studies in 1990–1993 and 2002–2005. They provided responses to detailed questions about their reproductive histories and other personal factors. Summary odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) derived for each study using the same covariates were aggregated. We found no significant associations between the number of incomplete pregnancies and ovarian cancer, for parous (OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.08) or nulliparous (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.75, 1.48) women, nor for the number of spontaneous or induced abortions and ovarian cancer for parous women (OR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.82, 1.09; OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.86, 1.36) or nulliparous women (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 0.6, 2.4; OR = 0.8, 95% CI: 0.47, 1.38), respectively. A systematic review of 37 previous studies of the topic confirmed our findings that a history of incomplete pregnancy does not influence a woman’s risk of epithelial ovarian cancer.     

Exposure to household painting and floor treatments,and parental occupational paint exposure and risk of childhood brain tumors: results from an Australian case–control study

Purpose

Childhood brain tumors (CBT) are the leading cause of cancer death in children, yet their etiology remains largely unknown. This study investigated whether household exposure to paints and floor treatments and parental occupational painting were associated with CBT risk in a population-based case–control study conducted between 2005 and 2010.

Methods

Cases were identified through all ten Australian pediatric oncology centers, and controls via nationwide random-digit dialing, frequency matched to cases on age, sex, and state of residence. Data were obtained from parents in mailed questionnaires and telephone interviews. Information on domestic painting and floor treatments, and parental occupational exposure to paint, in key periods relating to the index pregnancy and childhood was obtained for 306 cases and 950 controls. Data were analyzed using unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for frequency matching variables and potential confounders.

Results

Overall, we found little evidence that parental, fetal, or childhood exposure to home painting or floor treatments was associated with risk of CBT. There was, though, some evidence of a positive association between childhood exposure to indoor painting and risk of high-grade glioma [odds ratio (OR) 3.31, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.29, 8.52] based on very small numbers. The OR for the association between CBT and paternal occupational exposure to paint any time before the pregnancy was 1.32 (95 % CI 0.90, 1.92), which is consistent with the results of other studies.

Conclusions

Overall, we found little evidence of associations between household exposure to paint and the risk of CBT in any of the time periods investigated.     

Insulin-like growth factor-I and C-reactive protein during pregnancy and maternal risk of non-epithelial ovarian cancer: a nested case�Ccontrol study

Background

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and C-reactive protein (CRP) may be positively associated with the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) but no previous studies have investigated their associations with non-epithelial ovarian cancers (NEOC).

Methods

A case?Ccontrol study was nested within the Finnish Maternity Cohort. Case subjects were 58 women diagnosed with sex cord-stromal tumors (SCST) and 30 with germ cell tumors (GCT) after recruitment. Control subjects (144 for SCST and 74 for GCT) were matched for age, parity, and date of blood donation of the index case.

Results

Doubling of IGF-I concentration was not related to maternal risk of either SCST (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.58?C1.62) or GCT (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.51?C2.51). Similarly, doubling of CRP concentrations was not related to maternal risk of either SCST (OR 1.10, 95% CI 0.85?C1.43) or GCT (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.68?C1.28).

Conclusions

Pre-diagnostic IGF-I and CRP concentrations during the first trimester of pregnancy were not associated with increased risk of NEOC in the mother. Risk factors for NEOC may differ from those of EOC.     

Dietary consumption and diet diversity and risk of developing bladder cancer: results from the South and East China case–control study

Background

The epidemiologic evidence on the role of dietary consumption on the risk of bladder cancer in the Chinese population is limited. We investigated the role of dietary consumption and diet diversity on the risk of developing bladder cancer within a Chinese population.

Methods

A case–control study of 487 cases and 469 controls was conducted in four hospitals in China. A food frequency questionnaire was used to gather information on the consumption of 35 food items. Unconditional logistic regression models were used to derive odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) for the relationship between dietary factors, dietary diversity scores, and bladder cancer.

Results

The ORs of bladder cancer for red meat (OR = 1.8, 95 % CI:1.1–3.0;p _trend = 0.01), organ meat (OR = 1.6, 95 % CI:0.9–2.9;p _trend = 0.04), leafy vegetables (OR = 2.9, 95 % CI:1.6–5.4;p _trend = 0.003), bulb vegetables (OR = 2.3, 95 % CI:1.3–4.0;p _trend = 0.003), and preserved vegetables (OR = 2.3, 95 % CI:1.2–4.2;p _trend = 0.02) were significantly increased when comparing the highest to lowest level of consumption. The ORs for white fresh fish (OR = 0.5, 95 % CI:0.3–0.9;p _trend = 0.004), citrus fruits (OR = 0.4, 95 % CI:0.3–0.8;p _trend = 0.007), stone fruits (OR = 0.4, 95 % CI:0.2–0.6;p _trend < 0.001), vine fruits (OR = 0.5, 95 % CI:0.2–1.0;p _trend = 0.02), flower vegetables (OR = 0.3, 95 % CI:0.2–0.6;p _trend < 0.001), potatoes (OR = 0.4, 95 % CI:0.2–0.9;p _trend = 0.005), or dairy products (OR = 0.4, 95 % CI:0.3–0.7;p _trend < 0.001) were significantly decreased when comparing the highest to lowest level of consumption. Subjects with the highest total diet diversity (OR = 0.4, 95 % CI:0.2–1.1;p _trend = 0.02) and fruit diversity (OR = 0.1, 95 % CI:0.0–0.3;p _trend < 0.001) had reduced ORs of and compared to subjects with the lowest diversity.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that a diet with higher total diet diversity and in particular fruit diversity may reduce the risk of bladder cancer.     

A population-based, case–control study of green tea consumption and leukemia risk in southwestern Taiwan

Objective  This study investigated the association between green tea consumption and leukemia. Methods  A total of 252 cases (90.3% response) and 637 controls (53.4% response) were enrolled. Controls were matched for cases on age and gender. Information was collected on participants’ living habits, including tea consumption. Green tea was used as a standard to estimate the total amount of individual catechin consumption. We stratified individual consumption of catechins into four levels. Conditional logistic regression models were fit to subjects aged 0–15 and 16–29 years to evaluate separate associations between leukemia and catechin consumption. Results  A significant inverse association between green tea consumption and leukemia risk was found in individuals aged 16–29 years, whereas no significant association was found in the younger age groups. For the older group with higher amounts of tea consumption (>550 units of catechins), the adjusted odds ratio (OR) compared with the group without tea consumption was 0.47 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.23–0.97]. After we adjusted for smoking status and medical irradiation exposure, the overall OR for all participants was 0.49 (95% CI = 0.27–0.91), indicating an inverse relation between large amounts of catechins and leukemia. Conclusion  Drinking sufficient amounts of tea, especially green tea, which contains more catechins than oolong tea and black tea, may reduce the risk of leukemia.     

Alcohol consumption and risk of myelodysplastic syndromes: a case–control study

Purpose

Epidemiological studies on alcohol consumption and the risk of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) have been inconclusive. We evaluated the association between alcohol consumption and MDS risk in a Chinese population.

Methods

A hospital-based case–control study was conducted between 2012 and 2013 in Hangzhou, China. The analysis included 208 case–control pairs. Diagnosis of MDS was confirmed according to the 2008 World Health Organization classification system. Controls were individually matched to the cases by gender, birth quinquennium, and residential locality. Information on habitual alcohol consumption, diet, and lifestyle was sought from face-to-face interview using a validated questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using conditional logistic regression.

Results

Fewer cases (36.5 %) were classified as alcohol drinkers compared with the controls (48.6 %). Compared with abstainers, the adjusted OR for alcohol drinkers was 0.41 (95 % CI 0.21–0.80), and significant reduced risks were found for light alcohol consumption (≤12.5 g/day of ethanol) and for wine consumption, adjusted ORs (95 % CIs) being 0.27 (0.12–0.61) and 0.12 (0.02–0.79), respectively. Compared with individuals who consumed neither alcohol nor cigarettes, the reduced risk associated with light alcohol consumption was only statistically significant among non-smokers (OR 0.19, 95 % CI 0.06–0.60).

Conclusions

The findings suggest a favorable role of light alcohol consumption in MDS, particularly among non-smokers.

     

Levels of insulin-like growth factor during pregnancy and maternal cancer risk: a nested case–control study

Previous studies have suggested that pregnancy measures of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) may be related to breast cancer risk in mothers. IGFs may also be important in cervical cancer etiology. We conducted a nested case–control study (69 breast cancer cases, 151 cervical cancer cases, 443 controls) among mothers of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Over 70% of blood samples was taken prior to 15 weeks’ gestation; the remainder before 30 weeks. Logistic regression, controlling for maternal age, gestational age, and sample type (plasma/serum) was used to model the association between IGFs and maternal cancer risk. Neither IGF-I nor IGF-II were associated with breast or cervical cancer. IGF-binding protein (BP)-3 was not related to breast cancer, but there was a suggestion that women in the highest compared to lowest quartile of IGFBP-3 had reduced risk of cervical cancer, OR 0.43 (95% CI 0.21–0.86). In conclusion, the importance of IGFs measured in pregnancy and later breast and cervical cancer remains unclear, though IGFBP-3 may be a marker of lowered risk.     

Case–control study of green tea consumption and the risk of endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma

Objective  To investigate the association between green tea consumption and the risk of endometrial cancer restricted to endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma (EEA) using a case–control design in Japan. Methods  The cases were 152 patients with histopathologically diagnosed EEA, and the controls were 285 healthy women who were matched for age and area of residence with individual cases. The subjects completed a questionnaire regarding health-related lifestyle and reproductive history, and a food frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) of EEA for frequency of green tea consumption were calculated by conditional logistic regression analysis. Results  We observed a significant inverse association between green tea consumption and the risk of EEA with a dose–response relationship. The multivariate-adjusted OR of EEA was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.37–1.58) for those in the second quartile of green tea consumption (5–6 cups/week–1 cup/day), 0.61 (0.30–1.23) in the third quartile (2–3 cups/day), and 0.33 (0.15–0.75) in the highest quartile (≥4 cups/day), as referenced with those in the lowest quartile (≤4 cups/week; p for trend = 0.007). This inverse association was consistently observed regardless of the presence or absence of factors such as obesity and menopause. Conclusion  Green tea consumption may be associated with a lower risk of EEA.     

A pooled analysis of case–control studies of thyroid cancer: cigarette smoking and consumption of alcohol, coffee, and tea

Objective: To analyze the role of smoking, alcohol, coffee and tea in relation to thyroid cancer, we conducted a pooled analysis of 14 case–control studies conducted in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Methods: The sample consisted of 2725 thyroid cancer cases (2247 females, 478 males) and 4776 controls (3699 females, 1077 males). Conditional logistic regression with stratification on study, age at diagnosis, and gender was used to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Thyroid cancer risk was reduced in persons who had ever smoked. The relationship was more pronounced in current smokers (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.6–0.7) than former smokers (OR = 0.9, 95% CI = 0.8–1.1). There were significant trends of reduced risk with greater duration and frequency of smoking. For consumption of wine and beer, there was a significant trend of decreasing thyroid cancer risk (p = 0.02) that was not maintained after adjustment for current smoking (p = 0.12). Thyroid cancer risk was not associated with consumption of coffee or tea. These findings were consistent in both gender-specific and histology-specific (papillary and follicular) analyses. Conclusions: Pooled analyses of these geographically diverse case–control data indicate a reduced thyroid cancer risk associated with current smoking. A reduced risk associated with alcohol was eliminated after adjustment for smoking, and caffeinated beverages did not alter thyroid cancer risk.     

Tobacco smoke and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: findings from the SETIL case–control study

Purpose

Tobacco smoke could cause childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) through at least three pathways: (1) prenatal parental smoking; (2) fetal exposure through maternal smoking during pregnancy; and (3) childhood exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS). We tested these hypotheses in a large population-based case–control study (SETIL) primarily designed to evaluate the role of electromagnetic fields in childhood hematopoietic malignancies.

Methods

From 1998 to 2003, we enrolled 602 incident cases of ALL from 14 Italian Regions, and 918 controls were individually matched by birthdate, sex, and area of residence. Cases (n = 557) and controls (n = 855) with complete information were analyzed; odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were estimated with logistic regression models conditioned on matching variables and adjusted by birth order, birthweight, duration of breastfeeding, parental age at delivery, education, and occupational exposure to benzene.

Results

No evidence associating paternal smoking in the conception period or maternal smoking during the pregnancy with ALL was found. An association of ALL with maternal exposure to SHS during pregnancy (adjusted OR for mothers exposed more than 4 h/day = 2.18, 95 % CI 1.39–3.42) was observed, but recall bias cannot be excluded. Exposure of the children to SHS was associated with ALL only in unadjusted analysis (unadjusted OR for highly exposed children = 1.64; 95 % CI 1.10–2.45).

Conclusions

This study does not support the hypothesis that parental active smoking is associated with ALL. We found very weak evidence of increased risk of ALL for children exposed to SHS. Maternal exposure to SHS was associated with ALL, but recall bias is likely to inflate our estimates.     

Coffee consumption and risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: evidence from the Italian multicentre case–control study

Purpose

Several investigations have analysed the association between coffee intake and risk of cancer. Contradictory results were reported by the studies conducted in non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) few of which report results according to main NHL subgroups. The present study is aimed at evaluating the association between coffee consumption and the risk of NHL by analysing data from a large Italian multicentre case–control study that included 1,418 interviewed cases (1,301 B cell and 117 T cell NHL), diagnosed between 1990 and 1993, and 1,774 population healthy controls.

Methods

The association was evaluated by standard logistic regression analysis. Odds ratio (OR) estimates were adjusted for gender, age, residence area, educational level, previous chemotherapy treatment, smoking habit and exposure to electromagnetic fields, radiation, pesticides and aromatic hydrocarbons.

Results

For all B cell lymphomas, an increased risk (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2–2.0) was observed in the highest exposure category (consumption >4 cups per day for at least 30 years), but without a clear dose–response trend. Subgroup analyses highlighted an increased risk for drinkers of at least four cups per day for follicular lymphoma (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2–3.4). The risk increased with years of exposure and was more elevated among current smokers.

Conclusions

Consumption of more than four cups of coffee per day enhances the risk of lymphoma, especially the follicular subtype. Further investigations based on large cohorts and accurate measures of exposure are needed to confirm the observed associations.

     

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and testicular cancer in the sons: A nested case–control study and a meta-analysis

Some large ecological studies have noted a significant association of testicular cancer (TC) with maternal smoking during pregnancy, while several more controlled studies have been negative. It has been difficult to obtain reliable data on exposure because of the long lag time to cancer diagnosis. We performed a case–control study nested within Finnish, Swedish and Icelandic maternity cohorts exploiting early pregnancy serum samples to evaluate the role of maternal smoking in the risk of TC in the offspring. After reviewing the literature, we also performed a meta-analysis of published studies. For each index mother of the TC patient, three to nine matched control mothers with a cancer-free son born at the same time as the TC case were identified within each cohort. First trimester sera were retrieved from the 70 index mothers and 519 control mothers and were tested for cotinine level by a novel HPLC–MS–MS method developed. No statistically significant association between maternal cotinine level and risk of TC in the offspring was found (OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.35, 1.34). This is the first study based on individual exposure measurements. Its results agree with our meta-analysis of seven previous epidemiological studies (total number of 2149 cases, 2762 controls) using indirect exposure assessment (OR 1.0; 95% CI 0.88, 1.12).     

Cancer susceptibility variants and the risk of adult glioma in a US case�Ccontrol study

Malignant gliomas are the most common and deadly brain tumors. Although their etiology remains elusive, recent studies have narrowed the search for genetic loci that influence risk. We examined variants implicated in recent cancer genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for associations with glioma risk in a US case-control study. Cases were identified from neurosurgical and neuro-oncology clinics at major academic centers in the Southeastern US. Controls were identified from the community or were friends or other associates of cases. We examined a total of 191 susceptibility variants in genes identified in published cancer GWAS including glioma. A total of 639 glioma cases and 649 controls, all Caucasian, were included in analysis. Cases were enrolled a median of 1 month following diagnosis. Among glioma GWAS-identified variants, we detected associations in CDKN2B, RTEL1, TERT and PHLDB1, whereas we did not find overall associations for CCDC26. Results showed clear heterogeneity according to histologic subtypes of glioma, with TERT and RTEL variants a feature of astrocytic tumors and glioblastoma (GBM), CCDC26 and PHLDB1 variants a feature of astrocytic and oligodendroglial tumors, and CDKN2B variants most prominent in GBM. No examined variant in other cancer GWAS was found to be related to risk after adjustment for multiple comparisons. These results suggest that GWAS-identified SNPs in glioma mark different molecular etiologies in glioma. Stratification by broad histological subgroups may shed light on molecular mechanisms and assist in the discovery of novel loci in future studies of genetic susceptibility variants in glioma.