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M Ferraroni

Publications and source records attributed to M Ferraroni.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Validation of a food-frequency questionnaire to assess dietary intakes in cancer studies in Italy. Results for specific nutrients.

The validity of a 77-item food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) developed for a multicenter case-control study on diet and cancer in Italy was assessed. Trained interviewers administered the same FFQ to 452 volunteers from three Italian provinces (Pordenone, Genoa, and Forli) completed in two different seasons, at an interval of 3 to 10 months. For 395 (130 males, 265 females; median age = 52 years; range = 35 to 69 years) volunteers, two 7-day dietary (7-DD) records were available. Average intake obtained by means of the FFQ was overestimated by approximately 18% in comparison with the corresponding values based on the two 7-DD records (reference method). Pearson partial correlation coefficients, adjusted for total energy intake between the nutrient intakes assessed by the FFQ and reference method, ranged from 0.19 for vegetable fat to 0.64 for sugar (median value r = 0.46). The unadjusted deattenuated coefficients, which took into account the interindividual variability of consumption, estimated by means of the two 7-DD records, ranged from 0.29 for vegetable fat to 0.72 for starch (median value r = 0.54). The proportion of subjects correctly classified within the lowest two quintiles ranged between 59% for vegetable fat and vitamin E, and 96% for alcohol, and those correctly classified within the highest two quintiles ranged between 44% for vegetable fat and 94% for alcohol. The average proportion of subjects correctly classified within one quintile was 73%. These data indicate that this FFQ provides valid estimates of intakes for major nutrients, comparable to those reported from other studies in North America and other European countries.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Validity and reproducibility of alcohol consumption in Italy.

BACKGROUND: The reproducibility and validity of alcohol consumption has not been adequately studied, particularly in mediterranean countries, where alcohol drinking is a widespread habit, especially during meals. METHODS: We compared alcohol consumption measured by two interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) with average intake derived from two 7-day dietary (7-DD) records (the reference method) on 395 volunteers. Different types of alcoholic beverages were considered separately in order to verify the ability of the questionnaire to assess detailed patterns of alcohol intake. RESULTS: A satisfactory level of reproducibility and validity of the pattern of alcohol consumption across different levels and types of alcoholic beverage intake was observed. The reproducibility of wine and total alcohol intake showed correlation coefficients > 0.75 in both sexes. The validity was somewhat higher for wine (around 0.70) than for other alcoholic beverages and total alcohol intake. This is probably accounted for by the more regular pattern of wine consumption during the year as compared to other alcoholic beverages (beer, grappa, etc) which are more strongly influenced by seasonal and daily variations. However, about 30% of abstainers according to FFQ were drinkers by the reference method. The opposite was observed in only 4% of subjects. CONCLUSION: The FFQ is a reliable and valid instrument for collecting alcohol intake in regular drinkers. Lower validity in irregular drinkers may be due to seasonal variation and/or inadequacy of the FFQ to capture irregular patterns of consumption and/or inadequacy of the average of two 7-DD as a reference method. Furthermore, a considerable degree of misclassification was observed between non-drinkers and moderate drinkers.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Reproducibility of an Italian food frequency questionnaire for cancer studies. Results for specific nutrients.

The reproducibility of measures of the intake of total energy and 27 selected nutrients from a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used in a case-control study on cancer of the breast, ovary, and digestive tract was evaluated. The results of two FFQ administrations at an interval of 3 to 10 months (median = 5.4 months) to 452 volunteers (144 males and 308 females; median age = 50 years) from three Italian provinces (Pordenone, Genoa, and Forì) were compared. Pearson correlation coefficients (r) between crude nutrient intake (unadjusted for energy) ranged from 0.50 for vegetable fat to 0.80 for alcohol, with most values falling between 0.60 and 0.70 (median r = 0.67). Adjustment of nutrient intakes for total energy slightly decreased most coefficients (median r = 0.60). The agreement between the two measurements did not differ substantially by sex, age, education, and interval between interviews. The contribution of specific FFQ components (i.e., frequency-only questions, open questions, portion size, and fat intake pattern) was also assessed separately with respect to the performance and reproducibility of nutrient measures, yielding, in general, very similar results. The seven questions concerning individual fat intake pattern, which were used to modulate the composition of various recipes, led, however, to a significant increase in mean daily intake of vegetable fat, oleic acid, and vitamin E, but a reduction of estimated daily intake of linoleic acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1995

Past contraceptive method use and risk of ectopic pregnancy.

The relationship between past contraceptive method use and risk of ectopic pregnancy has been analyzed in a case-control study conducted in Milan, Italy. Cases were 158 women with diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy confirmed by laparoscopy or laparotomy, admitted to a network of university and general hospitals of Milan. The first control group (obstetric controls) included 243 women who gave birth at term (more than 37 weeks' gestation) to healthy infants at the same hospitals where the cases had been identified. The second control group (non-obstetric controls) was a random sample of 158 women admitted to the same network of hospitals where cases had been identified for diseases other than malignant, hormonal, or gynecological in origin. A total of 37 (23%) cases, 21 (9%) obstetric and 24 (15%) non-obstetric controls reported ever IUD use. The corresponding relative risk, RR, of ectopic pregnancy was 3.5 (95% CI 1.3-4.6) when non-obstetric subjects were considered as control group. The risk of ectopic pregnancy increased with duration of IUD use: in comparison with obstetric and non-obstetric controls, the RR were 2.3 and 2.0 for users for less than 2 years and 4.3 and 2.6 for longer users. There was no clear relation between time since last IUD use and risk of ectopic pregnancy, and no evidence of a decline of risk with increasing time since stopping use.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Hormone replacement treatment and breast cancer risk: a cooperative Italian study.

The relationship between hormone replacement treatment (HRT) and breast cancer risk was analysed using data from a case-control study conducted between June 1991 and February 1994 in six Italian centres on 2569 patients aged below 75 with histologically confirmed breast cancer and 2588 controls admitted to hospital for a wide spectrum of acute, non-neoplastic, non hormone-related diseases. Ever HRT use was reported by 7.5% of cases and 7.5% of controls, corresponding to a multivariate odds ratio (OR) of 1.2 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.9-1.5]. The risk increased with increasing duration of use: the ORs were 1.0 for use lasting less than 1 year, 1.3 for 1-4 years and 1.5 for 5 years or more. There was no clear pattern of risk with reference to time since starting use, but the OR was significantly elevated (OR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.3-2.9) for women who had stopped HRT within the last 10 years. No association was observed in those who had stopped HRT more than 10 years ago (OR = 1.0). The increased OR for women who had stopped HRT within the last 10 years was consistent across strata of identified covariates, and was significantly related to duration of use. This study confirms the absence of a strong association between HRT and breast cancer risk, although the risk estimate was above unity for women who had used HRT for 5 years or longer. However, the risk was significantly elevated in the short to medium term after use, particularly for long-term use. This short-term increased risk is consistent with an effect of HRT on one of the later stages of the process of breast carcinogenesis. The flattening of risk with increasing time since stopping, and hence the absence of a long-term cumulative excess in breast cancer risk after stopping HRT exposure, has relevant implications on individual risk assessment and public health.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Induced abortions and risk of ectopic pregnancy.

The relationship between induced abortions and subsequent risk of ectopic pregnancy has been analysed using data from a case-control study conducted in Milan, Italy. The cases were 158 women with a diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy confirmed by laparoscopy or laparotomy, admitted to a network of university and general hospitals. Two control groups were selected. The first one (obstetric controls) included 243 women who gave birth at term (more than 37 weeks gestation) to healthy infants at the same hospitals where the cases had been identified. The second control group (non-obstetric controls) was a random sample of 158 women of comparable age interviewed in the same calendar period, admitted to hospital for a broad spectrum of acute, non-gynaecological or obstetric conditions. A total of 35 out of 158 cases (22%) reported one or more previous induced abortions; the corresponding figures were 29 out of 243 (12%) obstetric controls and 29 out of 158 (18%) non-obstetric ones. The risk of ectopic pregnancy was higher in women reporting induced abortions: the estimated multivariate relative risks (relative risk) for any induced abortions were 2.9 [95%, confidence interval (CI) 1.6-5.3] in comparison with obstetric controls and 2.5 (95% CI 1.2-5.0) in comparison with women admitted to hospital for other conditions. The risk increased with number of induced abortions, being, compared to women with no induced abortion, 13.1 (95% CI 3.2-54.5) and 3.8 (95% CI 1.1-12.7) in women reporting two or more induced abortions when the comparison groups were respectively obstetric and non-obstetric controls. This study shows an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy after induced abortion.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1995

Prevalence of chronic diseases in alcohol abstainers.

We used data from the 1983 Italian National Health Survey, based on 58,462 adults ages 25 years and over who are representative of the general Italian population, to compare the prevalence of 16 major chronic diseases or groups of diseases in alcohol abstainers (ex- and never-drinkers combined) and current drinkers. We found elevated odds ratios among alcohol abstainers for diabetes, hypertension, myocardial infarction, other heart diseases, anemias, gastroduodenal ulcer, cholelithiasis, liver cirrhosis, urolithiasis, and renal insufficiency.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Number of siblings and subsequent gastric cancer risk.

The number of siblings is an indirect indicator of living and, possibly, dietary conditions in childhood and adolescence. The relationship between the number of siblings and subsequent gastric cancer risk was analysed using data from a case--control study conducted in Italy between 1985 and 1992 on 723 cases of incident, histologically confirmed gastric cancer and 2,024 controls in hospital for acute, non-neoplastic, non-digestive tract disorders. After allowance for age and sex, there was a significant trend of increasing gastric cancer risk with increasing number of siblings (P < 0.01). Compared with subjects with no siblings, the relative risk (RR) was 1.1 for those with one, 1.3 for 2, 1.4 for 3-6 and 1.7 for 7 or more siblings. The association was stronger in subjects above the age of 60: the RR for > or = 5 siblings was 1.8, as compared with 1.2 for younger subjects. These patterns of trends are consistent with the hypothesis that domestic crowding and deprivation in childhood and adolescence is a correlate of subsequent gastric cancer risk, and offer therefore interesting clues to our understanding of the process of gastric carcinogenesis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Influence of some covariates on the reproducibility of an Italian semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire.

We studied the influence of age, sex, education and time between interviews on the reproducibility of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) developed in Italy for a case-control study on cancers of the breast and digestive tract. The questionnaire had been administered twice to 452 Italian men and women and included the weekly consumption of 77 food items or groups of foods, seven summary questions and three questions on some general dietary habits. Spearman correlation coefficients for the 77 dietary items plus the seven summary questions did not differ between males (median 0.61) and females (median 0.58), volunteers younger than 50 years (median 0.58) and aged 50 or more (median 0.59), volunteers with fewer than 10 years of education (median 0.58) and with 10 or more (median 0.59). A slightly higher Spearman correlation coefficient was found when the two interviews were conducted 5-6 months apart (median 0.60) or more than 6 (median 0.59) than when less than 5 (median 0.55). Similarly, Pearson correlation coefficients for the intake of 27 nutrients or micronutrients, plus caloric intake, computed from the FFQ showed no differences between males (median 0.65) and females (median 0.64), two age groups (median 0.67 for subjects aged < 50 years and 0.65 for those aged > or = 50), and two educational levels (median 0.68 for < 10 years and 0.65 for > or = 10 years). The median Pearson correlation coefficient for nutrients was slightly higher for those subjects who were interviewed with the planned interval (5-6 months, median 0.71) than when the interval was shorter (median 0.57) or longer (median 0.64).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Pelvic endometriosis: reproductive and menstrual risk factors at different stages in Lombardy, northern Italy.

AIM: To analyse the relationship between reproductive and menstrual factors and different stages of pelvic endometriosis. METHODS: Between 1987 and 1990 a case-control study of risk factors for pelvic endometriosis was conducted. Cases comprised 376 women (median age 32 years) with pelvic endometriosis confirmed by laparoscopy or laparotomy admitted to any one of three clinics in Lombardy, northern Italy. A total of 129 (34.3%) of these women were at stage 1, 76 (20.2%) at stage 2, 96 (25.5%) at stage 3, and 75 (19.9%) at stage 4, according to the American Fertility Society revised classification of endometriosis. Controls comprised 522 women admitted to hospital for acute conditions. RESULTS: The risk of endometriosis decreased with increasing number of births. The estimated odds ratios (OR) were similar in different stages of the disease: for example, compared with nulliparous women, the OR of endometriosis at stage 1 was 0.1 in women who reported two or more births and the corresponding values were respectively 0.1, 0.2, and 0.2 for endometriosis at stages 2, 3, and 4. Cases reported fewer induced abortions than controls: the estimated ORs compared with no induced abortion were 0.4, 0.5, 0.2, and 0.2 in women who reported one or more induced abortions for subsequent stages of endometriosis. Women with irregular menstrual cycles were at less risk of the disease: compared with women who reported lifelong regular cycles the estimated ORs were 0.3, 0.5, 0.5, and 0.3 for disease stages 1-4 respectively. No consistent association emerged between the ages at menarche and at first delivery and the risk of endometriosis. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis provides further evidence that reproductive and menstrual factors are associated with the risk of endometriosis. The observation that early and late stages of the disease share similar epidemiological characteristics suggests an epidemiological (and pathogenetic) continuum between various stages of the disease.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1994

Smoking in Italy, 1990-1991.

Smoking prevalence and patterns in Italy were analyzed using data from the 1990-1991 Italian National Health Survey, based on a sample of 27, 135 males and 28,854 females aged 15 years or over, randomly selected within strata of geographic area and size of the place of residence and of the household, in order to be representative of the general Italian population. Overall, 26.9% of the Italians aged 15 years or over described themselves as current smokers (37.2% males, 17.4% females), and 14.0% as ex-smokers (22.2% males, 6.4% females). The difference in smoking prevalence between males and females was 65% below age 45, but increased substantially with increasing age up to 5-fold above age 65. Moderate smokers (< 15 cigarettes per day) were 12.6% of males and 10.4% of females, intermediate smokers (15 to 24 cigarettes per day) 17.7% of males and 5.5% of females, and heavy smokers (> or = 25 cigarettes per day) 6.3% of males and 1.5% of females. Pipe or cigar smokers were 0.6% of males. The average number of cigarettes per smoker per day was 16.6 (17.9 for males, 14.0 for females). The overall smoking prevalence of 26.9% was the lowest registered since 1949, thus confirming the long-term steady decline of smoking, particularly among males. Smoking prevalence, however, has remained constant over the last 15 years among females, after substantial rises in previous calendar years. These falls in overall self-reported smoking prevalence were reflected in declines of legal sale figures (-15% between 1986 and 1991), although it is difficult to quantify the impact of smuggling on total tobacco consumption. Thus, at least part of the falls in self-reported tobacco consumption is attributable to increased underreporting. In males, but not in females, smoking was less frequent in northern (and wealthier) areas of the country, and in more educated individuals. The opposite pattern was observed in females, indicating that even more educated Italian women have not yet recognized the accumulated evidence on the health consequences of smoking. These patterns in smoking are reflected by recent trends in lung cancer, which show some decline in males but persistent upward trends in females, although still on much lower absolute values.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Contraceptive methods and risk of pelvic endometriosis.

The relation between contraceptive methods and risk of pelvic endometriosis has been analyzed in a case-control study. Cases were 376 women with laparoscopically or laparotomically confirmed pelvic endometriosis admitted to a network of Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics in Lombardy, Northern Italy. Controls were 522 women admitted for acute non-gynecological and non-obstetrics conditions to the same hospitals where cases had been identified. A total 153 women (40.3%) out of the 377 cases and 154 (29.7%) out of the 522 controls reported ever oral contraceptive (OC) use: the corresponding relative risk (RR) was 1.6 (95% confidence interval, CI, 1.2-2.2). The risk was restricted to ex-OC users (RR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3-2.4), the estimated RR for current users being 0.9 (95% CI 0.5-1.9). No clear relation emerged with duration, recency and latency of OC use and risk of endometriosis. In comparison with never IUD users, the risk for ever users was 1.3 (95% CI 0.6-2.8), and no clear relation emerged with duration of use. Likewise, no association was observed between barrier method of contraception and risk of endometriosis (RR ever vs never users 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-1.4). The role of selection and other biases should be considered in the interpretation of epidemiological data on the role of OC on the risk of endometriosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Selected micronutrient intake and the risk of colorectal cancer.

The relationship between estimated intake of selected micronutrients and the risk of colorectal cancer was analysed using data from a case-control study conducted in northern Italy. The study was based on 828 patients with colon cancer, 498 with rectal cancer and 2,024 controls in hospital for acute, non-neoplastic, non-digestive tract diseases. Relative risks (RRs) of intake quintiles were computed after allowance for age, sex and other major potential confounding factors, including an estimate of total energy intake. No apparent trend in risk across intake quintiles was evident for retinol, vitamin D, methionine and calcium. For beta-carotene, ascorbic acid, vitamin E and folate there was a trend of a protective effect with increasing consumption: the RR for the highest versus the lowest quintile was 0.32 for beta-carotene, 0.40 for ascorbic acid, 0.60 for vitamin E and 0.52 for folate. These inverse associations were similar for colon and rectal cancer, and consistent across strata of sex and age. When simultaneous allowance was made for all these micronutrients, besides other covariates, the only persistent protective effects were for beta-carotene (RR = 0.38 for the highest quintile) and ascorbic acid (RR = 0.52). Whether this reflects a specific, or stronger, effect of these micronutrients, rather than problems of collinearity between micronutrients or other limitations of the data, remains open to discussion. Still, this study suggests that specific micronutrients may exert an independent protective effect against colorectal carcinogenesis.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

A reduced questionnaire to investigate the Mediterranean diet in epidemiologic studies.

We evaluated the performance of two reduced dietary questionnaires (RDQ). They were derived from a more complex questionnaire used to investigate the relation between diet and gastric cancer in a case-control study recently concluded in Italy. The full dietary questionnaire (FDQ) used in that study included 181 questions on the frequency/portion size of consumption of 146 different foods and drinks. Two different RDQs were defined, including subgroups of the original food items able to reproduce at least 90% (RDQ90) or 75% (RDQ75), respectively, of the total variability captured by the FDQ on the nutrient intake of controls. Each RDQ provided estimates of nutrients highly correlated with the estimates produced by the FDQ. For different quintiles of nutrient intake, we compared the estimated relative risk obtained by means of the RDQs and the FDQ. For various nutrients, the differences in relative risks were relatively minor, below 20%, but were larger for protein and beta-carotene. These analyses indicate that a RDQ is able to quantify adequately various aspects of the Italian diet for the purpose of epidemiologic inference.

Case-Control Studies↗
PubMed1994

Alcohol drinking and prevalence of self-reported gallstone disease in the 1983 Italian National Health Survey.

We studied the relation between alcohol drinking and gallstone disease, using data from the 1983 Italian National Health Survey. This survey included information on 58,462 adults age 25 years and over (27,912 males and 30,550 females), randomly selected within strata of geographical area, size of the municipality of residence, and size of the household. The prevalence of gallstone disease or cholecystectomy was 2.4% among males and 4.8% among females. Compared with alcohol abstainers, the relative risk of gallstone disease, controlling for age, sex, education, smoking, and body mass index, was 0.83 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.73-0.92] for occasional and regular moderate drinkers (< 25 ml of ethanol per day), 0.67 (95% CI = 0.59-0.77) for intermediate drinkers (25-50 ml per day), and 0.58 (95% CI = 0.47-0.70) for heavy drinkers. This inverse association was consistent across strata of age, sex, and body mass index.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Reproducibility of an Italian food frequency questionnaire for cancer studies: results for specific food items.

To evaluate the reproducibility of a quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used in a case-control study on cancer of the breast, ovary and digestive tract, we compared the result of a 98-item questionnaire administered twice at an interval of 3-10 months (median = 5.4 months) to 452 volunteers (144 males and 308 females, median age = 50 years) from three Italian provinces (Pordenone, Genoa and Forlí). Spearman correlation coefficients (r) for intake frequency of 87 dietary items ranged from 0.35 ("chicken or turkey, boiled") to 0.84 ("wine"). Most coefficients were between 0.60 and 0.80, only two being below 0.40 and five equal or above 0.80 (mean r = 0.59). The concordance of the two measurements tended to be somewhat better for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, bread, cereals and first courses, fruits and summary questions at the end of each section of the questionnaire than for side dishes, sweets and desserts. Also, the reproducibility of 11 subjective questions, such as those concerning the amount of fat in seasoning and the intake of garlic or salt, seemed to be high. Age, sex, educational level of the volunteers and interval between the two FFQ did not have a large or systematic impact on the concordance of the two measurements. In conclusion, the present study has shown a good level of reproducibility of our questionnaire and has provided a few important hints on ways of improving the description of various food items.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

HDL-cholesterol and breast cancer: a joint study in northern Italy and southern France.

The goal of the present study is to evaluate HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) as a marker of breast cancer (BC) risk. It is based on several epidemiological and biological studies and is justified by the rising incidence of breast cancer throughout the world. A hospital-based study on host-related risk factors and breast cancer, conducted with similar methods in northern Italy and southern France, provided the biological data, the information on the established BC risk factors and on nutrition for 307 cases and 329 controls. This data set allowed for a thorough analysis of the relationship of HDL-C with established risk factors for BC and also of its association with BC at the time of diagnosis. Most of our findings on HDL-C determinants in the control sample are comparable to previous studies. The BC risk factors associated with reproductive life correlate with HDL-C levels: the protective factors are associated with a lower level of HDL-C and inversely. The same is true for nutritional factors such as alcohol. For these determinants, the trend is similar for cases and controls, and HDL-C level appears to be related to oestrogen metabolism. Thus it may be considered as a marker of BC risk. Our results indicate that high HDL-C levels should be especially checked in women aged > or = 60 years, or in premenopausal women presenting a low BMI, or in postmenopausal women with an early menopause.

Breast Neoplasms↗