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Biomedical subjects

F Levi

Publications and source records attributed to F Levi.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Mortality patterns and trends for lung cancer and other tobacco-related cancers in the Americas, 1955-1989.

Mortality from cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, oesphagus, larynx and lung between 1955 and 1989 has been analysed for USA, Canada and 14 countries in Latin America. Among males, Uruguay, Cuba, Argentina and Puerto Rico have the highest rates for all sites, and Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Colombia have the lowest rates. Among females, Cuba, Colombia and Puerto Rico rank high for all sites, and Mexico, Paraguay, Ecuador and Peru rank low. For both sexes, lung cancer mortality rates from the US and Canada are high, whereas rates from other sites are intermediate. An increasing trend in lung cancer mortality over time is shown in all countries except Cuba (no changes), Argentina, Paraguay and Peru (decreasing trend). In Latin America, the tobacco-related lung cancer epidemic is in its early phase among males, and very early phase among females.

Esophageal Neoplasms↗
PubMed1993

Epidemiologic pathology of ovarian cancer from the Vaud Cancer Registry, Switzerland.

OBJECTIVE: To provide further information on the descriptive epidemiology and survival of ovarian cancer patients by specific histologic types. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiological study. Cases of ovarian cancer registered between 1974 and 1988 in the Vaud Cancer Registry, Switzerland (based on a population of approximately 530,000 inhabitants), were analysed. RESULTS: A total of 649 cases were registered, corresponding to an overall age-standardized (world population) incidence of 9.6/100,000. The most common histotype was serous carcinoma (41%, incidence rate 4.0/100,000), followed by endometrioid (13%), mucinous (12%), clear cell (5%), and undifferentiated carcinomas (3%); 20% of the cases were classified as 'epithelial, unspecified', and 6% were non-epithelial cancers. There was a tendency for the incidence of all epithelial types to rise up to the seventh decade of age, and to level off thereafter. The increases between the ages of 45 and 65 were, however, mostly in serous carcinomas whose proportion of total ovarian epithelial cancer peaked in middle age. Overall, 5-year relative survival was 32%. Survival rate was 32% for serous carcinomas, but was significantly higher for endometrioid (51%) and, among nonepithelial neoplasms, for germ-cell cancers (68%). Survival rates were poor for undifferentiated and 'epithelial, unspecified' carcinomas (16%). Relative survival was systematically higher below age 60 than at age 60 or over. In the two subsequent calendar periods examined (divided according to the approximate time when the use of platinum-based chemotherapy began to spread, i.e., 1982), 5-year relative survival rates were 28% and 36%, respectively (chi 1(2) = 6.1, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: The present report is a population-based description of the epidemiologic pathology and prognosis of ovarian cancer, and provides evidence of a significant improvement of survival over the past decade. This may be due to changed diagnostic methods (e.g., ultrasonography), improved surgical approach, (platinum-based) chemotherapy, or a combination of all these factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Ambulatory treatment with 5 days continuous venous infusion of ifosfamide for advanced colorectal cancer: a phase II feasibility study.

Eighteen patients suffering from an advanced colorectal cancer were treated with 5 days continuous venous infusion of ifosfamide and mesna (1 g/m2, 5/21 days). All had previously received 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapies. Disposable programmable infusion pumps (Cadd-I, Pharmacia Deltec and Intelliject Multisyringe) allowed ambulatory administration of the treatment. Toxicity was manageable; we had mainly to deplore two cases of grade 3 central nervous system manifestations. Only one minor response (lung lesions) and one no change were evidenced. We conclude that for this type of patient, ifosfamide has very limited antitumor activity. Nevertheless, we demonstrated the safety and feasibility of the proposed ambulatory schedule which could be used in other oncological indications.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Descriptive epidemiology of male breast cancer in Europe.

Trends in death certification rates from male breast cancer over the period 1955-89 were analysed for 25 European countries (excluding the Soviet Union and a few small countries) on the basis of official data from the World Health Organization database. In the late 1980's, about 550-600 deaths per year from male breast cancer were certified in these countries. The variation was relatively limited, most age-standardized (world standard) rates being within the range of 1.5 to 3.0 per million. The highest rates were in France, Hungary, Austria and Scotland. No clear pattern of trend was observed over the last few decades, but mortality rates in the late 1980's tended to be, for most countries, lower than those registered 3 decades earlier. Comparison was possible for 18 countries, and for 11 (including the largest ones, i.e. France, Germany, Italy and England and Wales), male breast cancer rates in 1985-89 were lower than in 1955-59. The pattern was similar when only truncated (from 35 to 64 years) mortality rates were considered and, for the largest countries, upon accurate inspection of age-specific rates. In conclusion, therefore, this overview of male breast cancer trends in Europe precludes any generalized increase in mortality from the disease over recent decades and, hence, weighs against the introduction and presence of any important new cause of this rare disease.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Body mass at different ages and subsequent endometrial cancer risk.

The relationship between body mass index (BMI) at different ages and subsequent endometrial-cancer risk was investigated in a multicentre case-control study conducted between 1988 and 1991 in Vaud, Switzerland, and Northern Italy on 272 histologically confirmed incident cases of endometrial cancer and 571 controls admitted to hospital for acute, non-neoplastic conditions, unrelated to known or potential risk factors for endometrial cancer. The risk of endometrial cancer increased with increasing BMI in the 3rd decade of age (20 to 29 years), in the 5th decade (40 to 49 years) and in the 7th decade (60 to 69 years), although the risk estimates tended to be substantially higher at older ages: compared with women whose BMI (kg m-2) was less than 20, the relative risks (RR) were 1.8 for BMI greater than or equal to 25 at age 20 to 29, 2.7 for BMI greater than or equal to 30 at age 40 to 49 and 3.8 at age 60 to 69. All the trends in risk were significant, except that for BMI at age 25 after allowance for current BMI. When data were examined in separate strata of current BMI, among women of normal body mass at diagnosis no significant effect of past overweight was observed. In contrast, among subjects over-weight at diagnosis, there were significant direct relationships with BMI at ages 20 to 29 and 40 to 49. To reduce endometrial cancer risk, it is therefore important to avoid obesity in later middle and older age, and the benefit can be even greater for women who were overweight at younger age.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Descriptive epidemiology of ovarian cancer in Europe.

Trends in ovarian cancer mortality over the period 1955-1989 were analyzed for 25 European countries (excluding the Soviet Union and a few small countries) on the basis of the official death certification data from the World Health Organization database. The overall variation in age-standardized ovarian cancer mortality at all ages declined appreciably, from over 17-fold during the period 1955-1959 (i.e., between 10.5/100,000 in Denmark and 0.6/100,000 in Spain, world standard) to 3.4-fold (i.e., between 9.9/100,000 in Denmark and 2.9/100,000 in Spain) in the late 1980s. When a comparison was made between the late 1950s and the 1980s, ovarian cancer mortality increased in most European countries, except Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland, where certified mortality was already elevated in the late 1950s, although also in these countries the peak rate around or over 10/100,000 was reached during the 1960s. However, when the changes over the last decade were considered, ovarian cancer mortality trends were downward in all Nordic countries, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Mortality was rising somewhat, though to a smaller extent, in Ireland, Britain, and Southern Europe. Trends were more favorable in middle-aged women (35 to 64 years), and, to an even greater extent, in young women (aged 20 to 44), among whom substantial declines, particularly over the last decade, were observed in most European countries, approaching 50% in Britain and Scandinavia. These trends are discussed in terms of changes in risk factor exposure (i.e., trends in average parity and oral contraceptive use), diagnostic and therapeutic improvements, ovariectomy, and changes in case ascertainment and certification.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Patterns of childhood cancer incidence and mortality in Europe.

Histograms including age-standardised (0-14 years, world standard) incidence and mortality rates from selected childhood cancers are presented for 21 European cancer registration areas and 24 countries. The overall range of variation in all childhood cancer incidence rates across various cancer registration areas in Europe was around a factor 1.5, with highest rates in Spain, Italy, Sweden and France, and lowest rates in Poland, Hungary, UK, Germany and Yugoslavia. For most single cancer sites, however, the observed pattern is essentially attributable to random variation alone. A clearer pattern, however, emerged with reference to mortality. The overall range of variation, in fact, was around a factor two in both sexes, with highest rates in Bulgaria, Portugal, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland, and the lowest rates in Austria, UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Finland. Trends in mortality from childhood cancers between 1950 and 1989 were also presented. Recent declines were observed for total childhood cancer mortality, leukaemias, kidney cancer (Wilms' tumours), Hodgkin's disease and other lymphomas in most European countries. These declines, however, were generally earlier and larger in northern as compared with southern and, mostly, with eastern European countries. This pattern of trends likely reflects the different adoption and impact of newer efficacious therapies of childhood cancer, and hence, confirms that there is ample scope for further reduction in childhood cancer mortality in several eastern and some southern European countries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Linkage of death certification of AIDS and cancer registration in Vaud, Switzerland.

58 death certifications (40 males and 18 females) of residents of the Canton of Vaud (Switzerland) which reported AIDS as the cause of death in 1986-1989 were matched with the list of incident cancers available since 1974 from the Vaud Cancer Registry. Such linkage was successful for 20 individuals (age range 25-63, median 37), mostly males (18/20), homosexual or bisexual (11/18) and affected by Kaposi's sarcoma (14 males and 1 female). Other identified neoplasms included one Burkitt's lymphoma, one prostate adenocarcinoma and one multiple myeloma (whose histological picture included, however, lymphocytosis in addition to plasmocytosis). Three additional malignancies (one undifferentiated skin cancer, one carcinoma of the salivary glands and one in situ cervical carcinoma), and one myelodysplastic syndrome had also been diagnosed from 1 to 2 years before AIDS death. Cancer was mentioned on the death certificate, in addition to AIDS, in only 2 cases. Albeit of limited size, the present report confirms that a systematic integration of AIDS and cancer registration statistics provides additional information, of particular interest for histological classification, on the AIDS-cancer relationship.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1992

Trends in cancer survival in Vaud, Switzerland.

Survival rates from the Vaud Cancer Registry were compared for incident cases registered in 1974-1978 and 1979-1983. No appreciable difference was evident for most major cancer sites: 5-year relative survival rates were 0.21 in 1974-1978 and 0.23 in 1979-1983 for stomach, 0.49 and 0.46 for colon, 0.45 and 0.47 for rectum, 0.04 and 0.03 for pancreas, 0.08 and 0.10 for lung, 0.41 and 0.42 for kidney, 0.21 and 0.13 for brain, and 0.32 and 0.30 for multiple myeloma, respectively. A modest advancement in 5-year relative survival rates was, however, registered for total cancer mortality (non-melanomatous tumours excluded, from 0.41 to 0.43) while, with regard to specific sites, a significant improvement was seen only for cancer of the testis (from 0.73 to 0.88). More than 10% non-significant improvements in survival were recorded for melanomatous skin cancer (from 0.67 to 0.78), thyroid cancer (from 0.73 to 0.85), particularly in females, non-Hodgkin lymphomas (from 0.37 to 0.45), Hodgkin's disease (from 0.61 to 0.78), cancer of the ovary (from 0.28 to 0.32) and the prostate (from 0.44 to 0.52). However, significant declines in survival rates were seen for cancer of the larynx, gallbladder and biliary tract, and for connective tissue neoplasms. A few differences in the modification of relative survival rates according to age (less than 60 versus greater than or equal to 60 years) were noted for a few cancer sites. Changes were larger in older patients with respect to cancer of the prostate and thyroid and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (increases) and connective neoplasms (decreases). Conversely, changes in survival were greater or restricted to younger individuals for testis, bladder and leukaemias (improvements) and cancer of the mouth or pharynx (decline), thus suggesting the different play of age-specific biological characteristics of some tumours, in addition to diagnostic improvements and gradual spread of effective cancer treatments to more advanced age groups.

Age Factors↗