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Fabio Levi

Publications and source records attributed to Fabio Levi.

62 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Cancer mortality in the European Union, 1988-1997: the fall may approach 80,000 deaths a year.

After the peak rate of cancer mortality reached in 1988 in the European Union, steady declines were observed: 9.1% for both sexes combined over the period 1988-1997 (from 147.0 to 133.6/100,000, world standard), corresponding to the avoidance of about 80,000 deaths in 1997 (approximately 39,000 below age 65 and 41,000 above). In 1997, the total number of cancer deaths also declined, for the first time. The major determining cancers for these favorable trends were stomach (-30%), lung (-10%), intestines (-15%), breast (-10%), uterus (mainly cervix; -22%), leukemias (-10%) and, after 1995, prostate (-3%).

Age Factors↗

Trends in mortality from non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

Trends in death certification rates from non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) were analyzed on the basis of the World Health Organization database over the period 1969-1998. Until the late 1970s, mortality from NHL was similar in the European Union (EU), the USA and Japan, i.e. around 3/100,000 males and 2/100,000 females. Over the last two decades, NHL mortality in the EU rose to 4.4/100,000 males and 2.8/100,000 females. Upward trends were greater in the USA, whose rates approached 6/100,000 males and 4/100,000 females in the late 1990s, and were observed in Japan, too.

Adolescent↗

Risk factors for medullary thyroid carcinoma: a pooled analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate risk factors for medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). METHODS: We conducted a pooled analysis of 14 case-control studies from Europe, North America, and Asia, including 67 medullary cancers (43 women and 24 men) diagnosed in ten studies. Of the original 4776, we selected five controls per case matched on study, gender, and age. The pooled odds ratios (OR) were estimated using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Education, weight, and body mass were not associated with MTC, but a significant positive relationship was seen with height (OR = 2.6 for highest vs lowest tertile). Significant excess risks were associated with a history of thyroid nodules (OR = 12), hypertension (OR = 2.3), gallbladder disease (OR = 4.3), and allergies (OR = 2.2). Among current smokers, a decreased risk of MTC was observed with increasing number of cigarettes. The risk was significantly elevated among women having a first birth after age 25 years, but no clear pattern emerged for other reproductive factors. CONCLUSIONS: Although the number of MTC was small, we detected several significant associations, including prior thyroid and other diseases.

Adult↗

A pooled analysis of case-control studies of thyroid cancer. VII. Cruciferous and other vegetables (International).

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between cruciferous and other vegetables and thyroid cancer risk we systematically reanalyzed the original data from 11 case-control studies conducted in the US, Asia, and Europe. METHODS: A total of 2241 cases (1784 women, 457 men) and 3716 controls (2744 women, 972 men) were included. Odds ratios (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for each study by logistic regression models, conditioned on age and sex, and adjusted for history of goiter, thyroid nodules or adenomas, and radiation. Summary ORs for all studies combined were computed as the weighted average of the estimates from each study. RESULTS: A decreased risk for the highest level of cruciferous vegetable intake, as compared to the lowest, was observed in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Connecticut, southeastern Sweden, Tromsø, and Switzerland; the OR were above unity in Japan and Uppsala, whereas no material association was found in northern Sweden, Italy, or Greece. The OR values for all studies combined were 0.87 (95% CI 0.75-1.01) for moderate and 0.94 (95% CI 0.80-1.10) for high cruciferous vegetables intake. The results were similar in studies from iodine-rich areas and endemic goiter areas, and were consistent when the analysis was restricted to papillary carcinomas and women. The summary OR values for vegetables other than cruciferous were 1.04 (0.88-1.22) for moderate and 0.82 (0.69-0.98) for high consumption. CONCLUSIONS: This combined analysis indicates that cruciferous vegetables are not positively related to thyroid cancer risk. Their effect does not seem to be substantially different from that of other vegetables, which appear to be protective on this cancer.

Brassica↗

Thyroid cancer in Vaud, Switzerland: an update.

We reviewed the descriptive epidemiology of thyroid cancer using data from the Cancer Registry of the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, a consistently well-surveilled population with relatively high rates of the disease, between 1974 and 1998, on the basis of a total of 596 registered cases. Overall thyroid cancer incidence tended to increase moderately in both genders over the 25-year period considered, to reach rates of 5.4 and 2.0 per 100,000 (world standard) in females and males, respectively. There were also changes in histologic classification, with some increases in papillary neoplasms and corresponding decreases in other and unclassified ones. Ten-year relative survival rates for cases diagnosed in 1988-1993 were 94% for papillary cancer in females and 69% in males, and 59% for follicular cancer in females. Corresponding figures were 12% for undifferentiated, and 31% for other and unspecified neoplasms in both sexes combined. Multivariate analysis confirmed the unfavorable influence of male gender (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.9), elderly age (HR = 16.5 for age > or = 65 vs. < 45 years) and undifferentiated histotype (HR = 3.5 vs. papillary) on the long-term prognosis of thyroid cancer, and showed no consistent evidence of appreciably improved prognosis over more recent calendar periods.

Adenocarcinoma, Follicular↗

Long-term mortality of women with a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Survival from breast cancer has improved over the last few years, but scanty information is available on the long-term follow-up. We therefore considered data on 1,095 women with breast cancer diagnosed between 1974 and 1984 in the Swiss Cancer Registry of Vaud (population 616,000 inhabitants) who had survived for at least 10 years. Overall, 129 deaths from breast cancer were observed 10-19 years after the original diagnosis, corresponding to a standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 20.3 (95% confidence interval (CI) 17.0-24.2). An excess mortality from breast cancer was observed 10-14 (SMR = 22.6) and 15-19 (SMR = 13.4) years after the original diagnosis. The SMR was 25.2 for women diagnosed with breast cancer at age <60 years. Consequently, total mortality was also elevated (SMR = 2.0, based on 294 deaths). None of the other causes of death was significantly elevated, but mortality from cardiovascular disease was 1.4 (95% CI 0.9-2.0) 15-19 years after breast cancer diagnosis. A second primary breast cancer was observed in 89 women. Of these, 19 (21%) died of breast cancer. Therefore in women diagnosed with breast cancer, there remains a substantial excess of breast cancer mortality up to 20 years after the original diagnosis.

Aged↗

[Tumors of the testis: a paradigm of a curable neoplasm?].

Mortality from testicular cancer has been declining in the USA since the 1970's and in western Europe since the late 1970's, and the rates in the late 1990's were about 70% lower than in the 1970's. In Eastern Europe, however, some decline was observed only since the late 1980's and was substantially smaller (only approximately 20%). Consequently, a few hundred avoidable deaths from a curable neoplasm, mainly of young adults, are still registered in Eastern Europe. This underlines the urgency of implementation of available and effective therapeutic schemes for testicular cancer in Eastern Europe.

Adult↗