Alicja Wolk
Karolinska Institutet, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Faculty Member
Whereas obesity has been associated with an increased risk of colon cancer in men, a weak or no association has been observed in women. Results for rectal cancer have also been inconsistent. The objective was to perform a meta-analysis to... more
Whereas obesity has been associated with an increased risk of colon cancer in men, a weak or no association has been observed in women. Results for rectal cancer have also been inconsistent. The objective was to perform a meta-analysis to summarize the available evidence from prospective studies on the associations of overall and abdominal obesity with the risk of colon and rectal cancer. We searched MEDLINE (1966-April 2007) and the references of the retrieved articles. Study-specific relative risks (RRs) were pooled by using a random-effects model. Thirty prospective studies were included in the meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)). Overall, a 5-unit increase in BMI was related to an increased risk of colon cancer in both men (RR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.25, 1.35) and women (RR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.18), but the association was stronger in men (P < 0.001). BMI was positively associated with rectal cancer in men (RR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.16) but not in women (RR: 1.03; 9...
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Chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are well-established causes of disability and premature deaths. Dietary components that are known to affect chronic inflammation have been implicated in the etiology and... more
Chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are well-established causes of disability and premature deaths. Dietary components that are known to affect chronic inflammation have been implicated in the etiology and prognosis of these chronic diseases. We examined the ability of the dietary inflammatory index (DII) to predict overall, cancer and CVD mortality in the Iowa Women's Health study. The DII was computed from baseline dietary intake assessed in this cohort of 37,525 women, who were aged 55-69 years when enrolled starting in 1986. During the follow-up period, through December 31, 2010, in a total of 17,793 deaths, 5044 cancer- and 6528 CVD-related deaths were identified through mortality record linkage. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with DII expressed both as a continuous variable and as quartiles. Comparing subjects in DII Quartile 4 versus Quartile 1, modest positive associations were noted for all-cause ...
Research Interests: Nutrition and Dietetics, Inflammation, Diet, Medicine, Humans, and 15 moreCOPD, Internal Medicine, Chronic Disease, Female, Aged, Middle Aged, Proportional hazards model, Neoplasms, Cardiovascular Diseases, Iowa, Alzheimer Disease, Proportional Hazards Models, Energy Intake, Nutrition assessment, and hazard ratio
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An analysis of dietary patterns or combinations of foods may provide insight regarding the influence of diet on the risk of colon and rectal cancer. A primary aim of the Dietary Patterns and Cancer (DIETSCAN) Project was to develop and... more
An analysis of dietary patterns or combinations of foods may provide insight regarding the influence of diet on the risk of colon and rectal cancer. A primary aim of the Dietary Patterns and Cancer (DIETSCAN) Project was to develop and apply a common methodologic approach to study dietary patterns and cancer in 4 European cohorts: the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study (Finland-ATBC), the Netherlands Cohort Study (NLCS) on Diet and Cancer, the Swedish Mammography Cohort (SMC), and the Ormoni e Dieta nella Eziologia dei Tumori (Italy-ORDET). Three cohorts (ATBC, NLCS, and SMC) provided data on colon and rectal cancer for the present study. The cohorts were established between 1985 and 1992; follow-up data were obtained from national cancer registries. The participants completed validated semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaires at baseline. Exploratory factor analysis, conducted within each cohort, identified 3-5 stable dietary patterns. Two dietary patterns...
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Research Interests: Environmental Epidemiology, Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Cancer Prevention, Exposure Assessment, and 15 moreHumans, Cohort Study, Data Collection, Life Expectancy, Food intake, HAZARD, Food habits, Biological markers, Food Contamination, Food Sciences, Epidemiologic Studies, Food and Drug Administration, Genetic Susceptibility, Hazardous Substances, and Dietary Habits
Research Interests: Pathology, Colorectal cancer, Multivariate Analysis, Prospective studies, Humans, and 22 moreSkin Cancer, Europe, Alcoholism, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Cohort Study, Follow-up studies, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Incidence, Risk factors, Alcohol Consumption, North America, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Sex Factors, Alcoholic Beverages, Risk Factors, Alcohol Use, Epidemiologic Studies, and Relative Risk(Skin Cancer, Europe, Alcoholism, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Cohort Study, Follow-up studies, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Incidence, Risk factors, Alcohol Consumption, North America, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Sex Factors, Alcoholic Beverages, Risk Factors, Alcohol Use, Epidemiologic Studies, and Relative Risk)
(Skin Cancer, Europe, Alcoholism, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Cohort Study, Follow-up studies, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Incidence, Risk factors, Alcohol Consumption, North America, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Sex Factors, Alcoholic Beverages, Risk Factors, Alcohol Use, Epidemiologic Studies, and Relative Risk)
Low-to-moderate alcohol consumption is associated with decreased mortality. However, many aspects of this association are still debated. Our aim was to complement available information by conducting a dose-response analysis of the... more
Low-to-moderate alcohol consumption is associated with decreased mortality. However, many aspects of this association are still debated. Our aim was to complement available information by conducting a dose-response analysis of the association between alcohol consumption and survival time. In a Swedish population-based cohort of 67,706 middle-aged and elderly men and women, frequency and amount of drinking were assessed through a self-administrated questionnaire. During 15 years of follow-up, 13,323 participants died. Differences in survival (10th percentile differences, PDs) according to levels of alcohol consumption were estimated using Laplace regression. We found evidence of nonlinearity between alcohol consumption and survival. Among women, we observed a rapid increase in survival up to 6 g/d of alcohol consumption (0.5 drinks/d) where survival was 17 months longer (PD = 17 months, 95% confidence interval, 10 to 24). After this peak, higher alcohol consumption was progressively associated with shorter survival. Among men, survival improved up to 15 g/d (1.5 drinks/d) where we observed a PD of 15 months (95% confidence interval, 8 to 22). Low alcohol consumption was associated with improved survival up to 1.5 years for women with an average consumption of 0.5 drinks per day and to 1.3 years for men with an average consumption of 1.5 drinks per day.
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Research Interests: Western Europe, Reproduction, Breast Cancer, Diet, Energy Consumption, and 23 moreFamily history, Multivariate Analysis, Prospective studies, Humans, High School, Female, Data Collection, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Risk factors, Benign Breast Disease, North America, Public health systems and services research, Risk Factors, Case Control Study, Food and Chemical Toxicology, Proportional Hazards Models, Logistic Models, Prospective Study, Energy Intake, Confidence Interval, Relative Risk, Dietary fat, and Dietary fats(Family history, Multivariate Analysis, Prospective studies, Humans, High School, Female, Data Collection, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Risk factors, Benign Breast Disease, North America, Public health systems and services research, Risk Factors, Case Control Study, Food and Chemical Toxicology, Proportional Hazards Models, Logistic Models, Prospective Study, Energy Intake, Confidence Interval, Relative Risk, Dietary fat, and Dietary fats)
(Family history, Multivariate Analysis, Prospective studies, Humans, High School, Female, Data Collection, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Risk factors, Benign Breast Disease, North America, Public health systems and services research, Risk Factors, Case Control Study, Food and Chemical Toxicology, Proportional Hazards Models, Logistic Models, Prospective Study, Energy Intake, Confidence Interval, Relative Risk, Dietary fat, and Dietary fats)
... Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breast cancer: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA. 2001;285:769-776. Free Full Text. 2. Slattery ML. ... Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breastcancer: a pooled analysis of... more
... Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breast cancer: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA. 2001;285:769-776. Free Full Text. 2. Slattery ML. ... Intake of fruits and vegetables and risk of breastcancer: a pooled analysis of cohort studies. JAMA. 2001;285:769-776. ...
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Research Interests: Engineering, Risk, Diet, Colorectal cancer, Multivariate Analysis, and 51 moreSweden, Factor analysis, Stroke, Prospective studies, Humans, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Animals, Meat, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Fishes, Cohort Study, Exercise, Follow-up studies, American, Dietary Supplements, Fruit, Brain Ischemia, Incidence, Cereals, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Vegetables, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Food habits, Myocardial Infarction, Adult, Fabaceae, Coronary heart disease, Odds ratio, Dietary pattern, Dietary fiber, Age Factors, Dietary Carbohydrates, Risk Factors, Epidemiologic Studies, Cerebral Hemorrhage, Neurosciences, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Study, Rectal Cancer, Age Groups, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, Relative Risk, and Dietary fats(Sweden, Factor analysis, Stroke, Prospective studies, Humans, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Animals, Meat, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Fishes, Cohort Study, Exercise, Follow-up studies, American, Dietary Supplements, Fruit, Brain Ischemia, Incidence, Cereals, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Vegetables, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Food habits, Myocardial Infarction, Adult, Fabaceae, Coronary heart disease, Odds ratio, Dietary pattern, Dietary fiber, Age Factors, Dietary Carbohydrates, Risk Factors, Epidemiologic Studies, Cerebral Hemorrhage, Neurosciences, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Study, Rectal Cancer, Age Groups, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, Relative Risk, and Dietary fats)
(Sweden, Factor analysis, Stroke, Prospective studies, Humans, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Animals, Meat, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Fishes, Cohort Study, Exercise, Follow-up studies, American, Dietary Supplements, Fruit, Brain Ischemia, Incidence, Cereals, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Vegetables, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Food habits, Myocardial Infarction, Adult, Fabaceae, Coronary heart disease, Odds ratio, Dietary pattern, Dietary fiber, Age Factors, Dietary Carbohydrates, Risk Factors, Epidemiologic Studies, Cerebral Hemorrhage, Neurosciences, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Study, Rectal Cancer, Age Groups, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, Relative Risk, and Dietary fats)
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Research Interests: Coffee, Risk, Diet, Comorbidity, Multivariate Analysis, and 20 moreSweden, Prospective studies, Humans, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Cohort Study, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Aged, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Adult, Coronary heart disease, Risk Factors, Case Control Study, Proportional Hazards Models, Confidence Interval, Coronary Risk Factors, Relative Risk, and Socioeconomic Factors(Sweden, Prospective studies, Humans, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Cohort Study, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Aged, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Adult, Coronary heart disease, Risk Factors, Case Control Study, Proportional Hazards Models, Confidence Interval, Coronary Risk Factors, Relative Risk, and Socioeconomic Factors)
(Sweden, Prospective studies, Humans, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Cohort Study, Body Mass Index, Risk factors, Aged, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Adult, Coronary heart disease, Risk Factors, Case Control Study, Proportional Hazards Models, Confidence Interval, Coronary Risk Factors, Relative Risk, and Socioeconomic Factors)
Research Interests: Risk, Diet, Carotenoids, Colorectal cancer, Multivariate Analysis, and 19 moreHumans, Europe, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Male, Statistical Significance, Cohort Study, American, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Incidence, Meta Analysis, North America, Random Effects Model, Colon cancer, Proportional Hazards Models, Rectal Cancer, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, and Relative Risk(Humans, Europe, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Male, Statistical Significance, Cohort Study, American, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Incidence, Meta Analysis, North America, Random Effects Model, Colon cancer, Proportional Hazards Models, Rectal Cancer, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, and Relative Risk)
(Humans, Europe, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Male, Statistical Significance, Cohort Study, American, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Incidence, Meta Analysis, North America, Random Effects Model, Colon cancer, Proportional Hazards Models, Rectal Cancer, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, and Relative Risk)
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Research Interests: Breast Cancer, Multivariate Analysis, Postmenopausal Women, Prospective studies, Humans, and 18 moreMathematical Sciences, Female, Regression Analysis, Cohort Study, American, Applied Physiology, Risk factors, Aged, Middle Aged, Premenopausal women, Adult, Weight Control, Body Weight, Risk Factors, Body Height, Prospective Study, Cohort Studies, and Breast neoplasm
Research Interests: Breast Cancer, Life Style, Environmental Monitoring, Menopause, Adolescent, and 24 moreCausality, Estrogen Receptor, Sweden, Humans, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Statistical Significance, Cohort Study, Menarche, American, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Carcinogens, Risk factors, Eating, Middle Aged, Adult, Food Contamination, Risk Factors, Prospective Study, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, Breast neoplasm, and Acrylamide(Causality, Estrogen Receptor, Sweden, Humans, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Statistical Significance, Cohort Study, Menarche, American, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Carcinogens, Risk factors, Eating, Middle Aged, Adult, Food Contamination, Risk Factors, Prospective Study, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, Breast neoplasm, and Acrylamide)
(Causality, Estrogen Receptor, Sweden, Humans, Smoking, Mathematical Sciences, Female, Statistical Significance, Cohort Study, Menarche, American, Food Frequency Questionnaire, Carcinogens, Risk factors, Eating, Middle Aged, Adult, Food Contamination, Risk Factors, Prospective Study, Confidence Interval, Cohort Studies, Breast neoplasm, and Acrylamide)
The authors examined the association of dietary calcium and magnesium intake with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality among 23,366 Swedish men, aged 45-79 years, who did not use dietary supplements. Cox... more
The authors examined the association of dietary calcium and magnesium intake with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality among 23,366 Swedish men, aged 45-79 years, who did not use dietary supplements. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the multivariate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of mortality. From baseline 1998 through December 2007, 2,358 deaths from all causes were recorded in the Swedish population registry; through December 2006, 819 CVD and 738 cancer deaths were recorded in the Swedish cause-of-death registry. Dietary calcium was associated with a statistically significant lower rate of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63, 0.88; P(trend) &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001) and a nonsignificantly lower rate of CVD (HR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.58, 1.01; P(trend) = 0.064) but not cancer mortality (HR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.65, 1.17; P(trend) = 0.362) when the highest intake tertile (mean = 1,953 mg/day; standard deviation (SD), 334) was compared with the lowest (990 mg/day; SD, 187). Dietary magnesium intake (means of tertiles ranged from 387 mg/day (SD, 31) to 523 mg/day (SD, 38) was not associated with all-cause, CVD, or cancer mortality. This population-based, prospective study of men with relatively high intakes of dietary calcium and magnesium showed that intake of calcium above that recommended daily may reduce all-cause mortality.
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Laboratory and clinical data indicate an antitumor effect of 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D (1,25(OH)2D) on prostate cancer. High calcium intake suppresses formation of 1,25(OH)2D from 25(OH)D, thereby decreasing the 1,25(OH)2D level. Ingestion of... more
Laboratory and clinical data indicate an antitumor effect of 1,25(OH)2 vitamin D (1,25(OH)2D) on prostate cancer. High calcium intake suppresses formation of 1,25(OH)2D from 25(OH)D, thereby decreasing the 1,25(OH)2D level. Ingestion of fructose reduces plasma phosphate transiently, and hypophosphatemia stimulates 1,25(OH)2D production. We thus conducted a prospective study among 47,781 men of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study free of cancer in 1986 to examine whether calcium and fructose intake influenced risk of prostate cancer. Between 1986 and 1994, 1369 non-stage A1 and 423 advanced (extraprostatic) cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed. Higher consumption of calcium was related to advanced prostate cancer [multivariate relative risk (RR), 2.97; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.61-5.50 for intakes &gt; or = 2000 mg/day versus &lt; 500 mg/day; P, trend, 0.002] and metastatic prostate cancer (RR, 4.57; CI, 1.88-11.1; P, trend, &lt;0.001). Calcium from food sources and from supplements independently increased risk. High fructose intake was related to a lower risk of advanced prostate cancer (multivariate RR, 0.51; CI, 0.33-0.80, for intakes &gt; 70 versus &lt; or = 40 g/day; P, trend, 0.007). Fruit intake was inversely associated with risk of advanced prostate cancer (RR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.43-0.93; for &gt; 5 versus &lt; or = 1 serving per day), and this association was accounted for by fructose intake. Non-fruit sources of fructose similarly predicted lower risk of advanced prostate cancer. A moderate positive association between energy-adjusted fat intake and advanced prostate cancer was attenuated and no longer statistically significant when controlled for calcium and fructose. Our findings provide indirect evidence for a protective influence of high 1,25(OH)2D levels on prostate cancer and support increased fruit consumption and avoidance of high calcium intake to reduce the risk of advanced prostate cancer.
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Research Interests: Atherosclerosis, Medicine, Heart Failure, Prospective studies, Population, and 15 moreHumans, Internal Medicine, Female, Incidence, Cohort, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Proportional hazards model, Mediterranean diet, Hemorrhage, Proportional Hazards Models, Primary Prevention, and Cardiovascular medicine and haematology
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The extent to which different front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOPNLs) agree or contradict each other has been insufficiently investigated. Considering the 2020 proposal from the European Commission to create a harmonized FOPNL, the aim of... more
The extent to which different front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOPNLs) agree or contradict each other has been insufficiently investigated. Considering the 2020 proposal from the European Commission to create a harmonized FOPNL, the aim of this study was to assess agreements and disagreements between two FOPNL schemes—the Keyhole and the Nutri-Score—in a Swedish context. The current Keyhole criteria and the updated Nutri-Score 2022 algorithm were applied to 984 food items and their nutrient compositions, obtained from the food database of the Swedish Food Agency. Agreements (Keyhole-eligible and Nutri-Score A or B; or not Keyhole-eligible and Nutri-Score C, D, or E) and disagreements (Keyhole-eligible and Nutri-Score C, D, or E, or not Keyhole-eligible and Nutri-Score A or B) were calculated as percentages for all items and by food group. An agreement was found for 81% of included items. The lowest level of agreement was found for the groups of flour, grains, and rice (62% agreement)...
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Environmental exposures to a myriad of chemicals are associated with adverse health effects in humans, while good nutrition is associated with improved health. Single chemical in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrate causal links between... more
Environmental exposures to a myriad of chemicals are associated with adverse health effects in humans, while good nutrition is associated with improved health. Single chemical in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrate causal links between the chemicals and outcomes, but such studies do not represent human exposure to environmental mixtures. One way of summarizing the effect of the joint action of chemical mixtures is through an empirically weighted index using weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression. My Nutrition Index (MNI) is a metric of overall dietary nutrition based on guideline values, including for pregnant women. Our objective is to demonstrate the use of an index as a metric for more causally linking human exposure to health outcomes using observational data. We use both a WQS index of 26 endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and MNI using data from the SELMA pregnancy cohort to conduct causal inference using g-computation with counterfactuals for assumed either reduced prena...
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Prostate cancer mortality rates vary widely around the world. Studies on the effects of environment, nutrition and migration on prostate cancer rates suggest that diet plays a pivotal role in the development of the disease. Animal and in... more
Prostate cancer mortality rates vary widely around the world. Studies on the effects of environment, nutrition and migration on prostate cancer rates suggest that diet plays a pivotal role in the development of the disease. Animal and in vitro studies on prostate cancer indicate that omega (ω)-3 fatty acids, especially the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), inhibit carcinogenesis. Conversely, there
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BackgroundSHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) based on tree-based machine learning methods have been proposed to interpret interactions between exposures in observational studies, but their performance in realistic simulations is seldom... more
BackgroundSHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) based on tree-based machine learning methods have been proposed to interpret interactions between exposures in observational studies, but their performance in realistic simulations is seldom evaluated.MethodsData from population-based cohorts in Sweden of 47,770 men and women with complete baseline information on diet and lifestyles were used to inform a realistic simulation in 3 scenarios of small (ORM = 0.75 vs. ORW = 0.70), moderate (ORM = 0.75 vs. ORW = 0.65), and large (ORM = 0.75 vs. ORW = 0.60) discrepancies in the adjusted mortality odds ratios conferred by a healthy diet among men and among women. Estimates were obtained with logistic regression (L-ORM; L-ORW) and derived from SHAP values (S-ORM; S-ORW).ResultsThe sensitivities of detecting small, moderate, and large discrepancies were 28, 83, and 100%, respectively. The sensitivities of a positive sign (L-ORW > L-ORM) in the 3 scenarios were 93, 100, and 100%, respectively....
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Background: Previous studies have shown that different alcoholic beverage types impact prostate cancer (PCa) clinical outcomes differently. However, intake patterns of specific alcoholic beverages for PCa status are understudied. The... more
Background: Previous studies have shown that different alcoholic beverage types impact prostate cancer (PCa) clinical outcomes differently. However, intake patterns of specific alcoholic beverages for PCa status are understudied. The study’s objective is to evaluate intake patterns of total alcohol and the three types of beverage (beer, wine, and spirits) by the PCa risk and aggressiveness status. Method: This is a cross-sectional study using 10,029 men (4676 non-PCa men and 5353 PCa patients) with European ancestry from the PCa consortium. Associations between PCa status and alcohol intake patterns (infrequent, light/moderate, and heavy) were tested using multinomial logistic regressions. Results: Intake frequency patterns of total alcohol were similar for non-PCa men and PCa patients after adjusting for demographic and other factors. However, PCa patients were more likely to drink wine (light/moderate, OR = 1.11, p = 0.018) and spirits (light/moderate, OR = 1.14, p = 0.003; and he...
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The identification of recurrent founder variants in cancer predisposing genes may have important implications for implementing cost-effective targeted genetic screening strategies. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and relative... more
The identification of recurrent founder variants in cancer predisposing genes may have important implications for implementing cost-effective targeted genetic screening strategies. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and relative risk of the CHEK2 recurrent variant c.349A>G in a series of 462 Portuguese patients with early-onset and/or familial/hereditary prostate cancer (PrCa), as well as in the large multicentre PRACTICAL case–control study comprising 55,162 prostate cancer cases and 36,147 controls. Additionally, we investigated the potential shared ancestry of the carriers by performing identity-by-descent, haplotype and age estimation analyses using high-density SNP data from 70 variant carriers belonging to 11 different populations included in the PRACTICAL consortium. The CHEK2 missense variant c.349A>G was found significantly associated with an increased risk for PrCa (OR 1.9; 95% CI: 1.1–3.2). A shared haplotype flanking the variant in all carriers was identifi...
Research Interests: Genetics, Biology, Prostate Cancer, Medicine, Snp, and 3 moreCancers, Haplotype, and cancer predisposition
BackgroundSHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) based on tree-based machine learning methods have been proposed to interpret interactions between exposures in observational studies, but their performance in realistic simulations is seldom... more
BackgroundSHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) based on tree-based machine learning methods have been proposed to interpret interactions between exposures in observational studies, but their performance in realistic simulations is seldom evaluated.MethodsData from population-based cohorts in Sweden of 47,770 men and women with complete baseline information on diet and lifestyles were used to inform a realistic simulation in 3 scenarios of small (ORM = 0.75 vs. ORW = 0.70), moderate (ORM = 0.75 vs. ORW = 0.65), and large (ORM = 0.75 vs. ORW = 0.60) discrepancies in the adjusted mortality odds ratios conferred by a healthy diet among men and among women. Estimates were obtained with logistic regression (L-ORM; L-ORW) and derived from SHAP values (S-ORM; S-ORW).ResultsThe sensitivities of detecting small, moderate, and large discrepancies were 28, 83, and 100%, respectively. The sensitivities of a positive sign (L-ORW > L-ORM) in the 3 scenarios were 93, 100, and 100%, respectively....
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Background Salicylic acid (SA) is a metabolite that can be obtained from the diet via fruit and vegetable ingestion, of which increased consumption has observationally been shown to decrease risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Whilst primary... more
Background Salicylic acid (SA) is a metabolite that can be obtained from the diet via fruit and vegetable ingestion, of which increased consumption has observationally been shown to decrease risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Whilst primary prevention trials of SA and CRC risk are lacking, there is strong evidence from clinical trials and prospective cohort studies that aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is an effective primary and secondary chemopreventative agent. Since aspirin is rapidly deacetylated to form SA, it follows that SA may have a central role for aspirin chemoprevention. Through a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, we aimed to address whether levels of SA affected CRC risk, and whether aspirin intake as a proxy for increased SA levels was required to identify an effect. Methods and Findings A two sample MR analysis was carried out using genome-wide association study summary statistics of SA from INTERVAL and EPIC-Norfolk (N= 14,149) and CRC from Colon Cancer Family Regi...
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Background: Previous studies have shown that different alcoholic beverage types impact prostate cancer (PCa) clinical outcomes differently. However, intake patterns of specific alcoholic beverages for PCa status are understudied. The... more
Background: Previous studies have shown that different alcoholic beverage types impact prostate cancer (PCa) clinical outcomes differently. However, intake patterns of specific alcoholic beverages for PCa status are understudied. The study’s objective is to evaluate intake patterns of total alcohol and the three types of beverage (beer, wine, and spirits) by the PCa risk and aggressiveness status. Method: This is a cross-sectional study using 10,029 men (4676 non-PCa men and 5353 PCa patients) with European ancestry from the PCa consortium. Associations between PCa status and alcohol intake patterns (infrequent, light/moderate, and heavy) were tested using multinomial logistic regressions. Results: Intake frequency patterns of total alcohol were similar for non-PCa men and PCa patients after adjusting for demographic and other factors. However, PCa patients were more likely to drink wine (light/moderate, OR = 1.11, p = 0.018) and spirits (light/moderate, OR = 1.14, p = 0.003; and he...
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Aspirin use is associated with reduced risk of several cancers. A pooled analysis of 12 case-control studies showed a 10% decrease in ovarian cancer risk with regular aspirin use, which was stronger for daily and low-dose users. To... more
Aspirin use is associated with reduced risk of several cancers. A pooled analysis of 12 case-control studies showed a 10% decrease in ovarian cancer risk with regular aspirin use, which was stronger for daily and low-dose users. To prospectively investigate associations of analgesic use with ovarian cancer, we analyzed data from 13 studies in the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium (OC3). The current study included 758 829 women who at study enrollment self-reported analgesic use, among whom 3514 developed ovarian cancer. Using Cox regression, we assessed associations between frequent medication use and risk of ovarian cancer. Dose and duration were also evaluated. All statistical tests were two-sided. Women who used aspirin almost daily (≥6 days/wk) vs infrequent/nonuse experienced a 10% reduction in ovarian cancer risk (rate ratio [RR] = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.82 to 1.00, P = .05). Frequent use (≥4 days/wk) of aspirin (RR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.88 to 1.03), nonaspirin non...
Research Interests: Cancer, Risk assessment, Ovarian Cancer, Medicine, Prospective studies, and 15 moreHumans, Internal Medicine, Europe, Female, Aspirin, Middle Aged, Prognosis, Risk Factors, Risk Assessment, Acetaminophen, Analgesics, Confidence Interval, Relative Risk, Paediatrics and reproductive medicine, and Ovarian Neoplasms
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The identification of recurrent founder variants in cancer predisposing genes may have important implications for implementing cost-effective targeted genetic screening strategies. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and relative... more
The identification of recurrent founder variants in cancer predisposing genes may have important implications for implementing cost-effective targeted genetic screening strategies. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and relative risk of the CHEK2 recurrent variant c.349A>G in a series of 462 Portuguese patients with early-onset and/or familial/hereditary prostate cancer (PrCa), as well as in the large multicentre PRACTICAL case–control study comprising 55,162 prostate cancer cases and 36,147 controls. Additionally, we investigated the potential shared ancestry of the carriers by performing identity-by-descent, haplotype and age estimation analyses using high-density SNP data from 70 variant carriers belonging to 11 different populations included in the PRACTICAL consortium. The CHEK2 missense variant c.349A>G was found significantly associated with an increased risk for PrCa (OR 1.9; 95% CI: 1.1–3.2). A shared haplotype flanking the variant in all carriers was identifi...