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Biomedical subjects

R Doll

Publications and source records attributed to R Doll.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Oral contraceptives and breast cancer. Progress report of an epidemiological study.

322 women aged 16-45 years undergoing treatment for newly diagnosed breast cancer, together with 502 matched control patients, have been interviewed at six hospitals. The data suggest that the use of oral contraceptives is unrelated to the risk of breast cancer. While this result is reassuring, it is important to remember that it mst be many years yet before the question of the possible relation between oral contraceptives and breast cancer is finally settled.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Environmental factors and cancer incidence and mortality in different countries, with special reference to dietary practices.

Incidence rates for 27 cancers in 23 countries and mortality rates for 14 cancers in 32 countries have been correlated with a wide range of dietary and other variables. Dietary variables were strongly correlated with several types of cancer, particularly meat consumption with cancer of the colon and fat consumption with cancers of the breast and corpus uteri. The data suggest a possible role for dietary factors in modifying the development of cancer at a number of other sites. The usefulness and limitations of the method are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Bladder cancer mortality in diabetics in relation to saccharin consumption and smoking habits.

The frequency with which diabetes mellitus was mentioned on the death certificates of 18,733 patients dying from bladder cancer has been compared with that of 19,709 patients dying from other cancers (excluding cancer of the lung and pancreas). The estimated relative risk of bladder cancer in diabetics was 0-98 with 95% confidence limits 0-70-1-38. There was no increase in risk of bladder cancer in patients with diabetes of long duration. Diabetics were shown by questionnaire to consume substantially more saccharin than non-diabetics, and the duration of regular saccharin use by diabetics was highly correlated with the duration of diabetes. There was therefore no evidence from this study that consumption of above average amounts of saccharin had led to bladder cancer in diabetics. The proporation of current smokers among diabetics was significantly less than among non-diabetics, and this may account for a low relative risk of lung cancer in the former (0-72).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Pott and the path to prevention.

Two hundred years ago, Percival Pott, a London surgeon, recognized that chimney sweeps were particulary liable to develop scrotal cancer and attributed the disease to exposure to soot. By so doing, he described the first environmental cause of cancer and started the chain of events that led to the first experimental production of cancer, the first synthesis of a carcinogen, and the first isolation of a carcinogen from a natural substance. Following these laboratory successes, the main object of cancer research has been to discover the fundamental characteristics of the cancer cell and the mechanism of the cancer cell and the mechanism of its production and relativly few investigations have studied the conditions under which cancer is produced in man. Recently, however, it has been recognized that we can often prevent cancer by modifying the conditions of life without detailed knowledge of the mechanism of carcinogenesis. All but a few rare cancers vary in incidence with place or time or with both and nearly all this variation can be shown to be environmental in origin. We already know enough to prevent most cancers of the mouth, oesophagus, larynx, lung, bladder, and skin in W. Europe and N. America, most cancers of the mouth in Asia, and most liver cancers in Africa. We have clues to the causation of cancer of the cervix uteri, breast, and colon and we should learn how to prevent all these cancers before long. Many new hazards could be prevented by controlling the introduction of new carcinogenic chemicals into the environment while others could be detected quickly by improved methods of epidemiological enquiry. But even so, acute clinical observers, like Pott, will continue to be needed for many years.

Carbon↗