Rural-urban differences in meeting of physical activity recommendations by sun exposure and protection behaviors in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between sun protection behaviors and physical activity (PA) by rural and urban residence in the United States. METHODS: We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2018), restricting to participants ages 20-59 with sun behavior data. Sunburns, sun exposure, and sun protection measures were dichotomized (yes/no): ≥1 sunburn in the past year, 2+ hour outside during workdays or non-workdays, and never/rarely/sometimes using sunscreen, wearing long sleeves, and staying in the shade. Meeting PA recommendations (yes/no) was defined as ≥150 min of vigorous/moderate or ≥ 75 min vigorous PA per week. Associations between sun behaviors and PA were analyzed using logistic regression models, which accounted for survey-weights and potential confounders, and stratified by rural-urban status. RESULTS: Rural and urban individuals meeting PA recommendations had greater odds of spending 2+ hour outside during workdays (OR: 2.26 [1.88, 2.74] and 3.95 [2.72, 5.73]) and non-workdays (OR: 2.06 [1.78, 2.38] and 3.33 [2.47, 4.46]). Among urban residents, odds of staying in the shade were lower among those who met PA recommendations (OR: 0.78 [0.66, 0.92]). We did not observe differences in sunburns or other sun behaviors by PA status, regardless of rurality. CONCLUSIONS: Meeting PA recommendations was associated with greater sun exposure in both rural and urban populations. Additional exercise location (indoors/outside) data is needed to inform PA and skin cancer prevention interventions to reduce unintended increases in sun exposure and reductions in PA, respectively, especially among rural populations.

Associations of Novel Lifestyle- and Whole Foods-Based Inflammation Scores with Incident Colorectal Cancer Among Women.

BACKGROUND: Chronic inflammation, associated with lifestyle and dietary factors, may contribute to colorectal carcinogenesis. To address this, we investigated associations of previously validated, inflammation biomarker panel-weighted, novel, 4-component lifestyle (LIS) and 19-component predominately whole foods-based dietary (DIS) inflammation scores with incident colorectal cancer (CRC) in the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study (IWHS; 1986-2012; n = 34,254, of whom 1,632 developed CRC). METHODS: We applied the published scores' components' weights, summed the weighted components to constitute the scores (higher scores reflect a higher balance of pro-inflammatory exposures), and investigated LIS- and DIS-CRC associations using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: The multivariable-adjusted hazards ratios (HR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for CRC among participants in the highest relative to the lowest LIS and DIS quintiles were 1.47 (1.26, 1.72; Ptrend < 0.01) and 1.07 (0.91, 1.25; Ptrend = 0.22), respectively. The corresponding findings for distal colon cancers were HR 1.78 (1.29, 2.47) and HR 1.34 (0.98, 1.84), respectively. Among those in the highest relative to the lowest joint LIS/DIS quintile, the HR for CRC was 1.60 (95% CI 1.30, 1.98). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that a more pro-inflammatory lifestyle, alone and jointly with a more pro-inflammatory diet, may be associated with higher CRC risk.

Associations of coffee and tea consumption with lung cancer risk.

Associations of coffee and tea consumption with lung cancer risk have been inconsistent, and most lung cancer cases investigated were smokers. Included in this study were over 1.1 million participants from 17 prospective cohorts. Cox regression analyses were conducted to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Potential effect modifications by sex, smoking, race, cancer subtype and coffee type were assessed. After a median 8.6 years of follow-up, 20 280 incident lung cancer cases were identified. Compared with noncoffee and nontea consumption, HRs (95% CIs) associated with exclusive coffee drinkers (≥2 cups/d) among current, former and never smokers were 1.30 (1.15-1.47), 1.49 (1.27-1.74) and 1.35 (1.15-1.58), respectively. Corresponding HRs for exclusive tea drinkers (≥2 cups/d) were 1.16 (1.02-1.32), 1.10 (0.92-1.32) and 1.37 (1.17-1.61). In general, the coffee and tea associations did not differ significantly by sex, race or histologic subtype. Our findings suggest that higher consumption of coffee or tea is associated with increased lung cancer risk. However, these findings should not be assumed to be causal because of the likelihood of residual confounding by smoking, including passive smoking, and change of coffee and tea consumption after study enrolment.

Associations between tissue-based CD3+ T-lymphocyte count and colorectal cancer survival in a prospective cohort of older women.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in colorectal cancer (CRC) predict better survival. However, associations between T-lymphocyte count in histologically normal tissues from patients with CRC and survival remain uncertain. We examined associations of CD3+ T-cells in colorectal tumor and histologically normal tissues with CRC-specific and all-cause mortality in the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study. Tissue microarrays were constructed using paraffin-embedded colorectal tissue samples from 464 women with tumor tissues and 314 women with histologically normal tissues (55-69 years at baseline) diagnosed with incident CRC from 1986 to 2002 and followed through 2014 (median follow-up 20.5 years). Three tumor and two histologically normal tissue cores for each patient were immunostained using CD3+ antibody and quantified, and the counts were averaged across the cores in each tissue. Cox proportional hazards regression estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for CRC-specific and all-cause mortality. After adjustment for age at diagnosis, body mass index, smoking status, tumor grade, and stage, HRs (95% CI) for the highest versus lowest tertile of tumor CD3+ score were 0.59 (0.38-0.89) for CRC-specific mortality and 0.82 (0.63-1.05) for all-cause mortality; for histologically normal CD3+ score, the corresponding HRs (95% CI) were 0.47 (0.19-1.17) and 0.50 (0.27-0.90), respectively. The CD3+ score combining the tumor and histologically normal scores was inversely associated with CRC-specific and all-cause mortality. Although the association between tumor CD3+ score and all-cause mortality was not significant, both higher CD3+ T-lymphocyte counts in tumor and histologically normal scores tended to be associated with lower CRC-specific and all-cause mortality.

Novel Dietary and Lifestyle Inflammation Scores Directly Associated with All-Cause, All-Cancer, and All-Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Risks Among Women.

BACKGROUND: Exogenous exposures collectively may contribute to chronic, low-grade inflammation and increase risks for major chronic diseases and mortality. We previously developed, validated, and reported a novel, FFQ-based and lifestyle questionnaire-based, inflammation biomarker panel-weighted, predominantly whole foods-based 19-component dietary inflammation score (DIS) and 4-component lifestyle inflammation score (LIS; comprising physical activity, alcohol intake, BMI, and current smoking status). Both scores were more strongly associated with circulating biomarkers of inflammation in 3 populations than were previously reported dietary inflammation indices. Associations of the DIS and LIS with mortality risk have not been reported. OBJECTIVES: To investigate separate and joint associations of the DIS and LIS with all-cause, all-cancer, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risks in the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study (1986-2012; n = 33,155 women, ages 55-69 years, of whom 17,431 died during follow-up, including 4379 from cancer and 6574 from CVD). METHODS: We summed each study participant's scores' components, weighted by their published weights, to yield the participant's inflammation score; a higher score was considered more pro-inflammatory. We assessed DIS and LIS mortality associations using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: Among participants in the highest relative to the lowest DIS and LIS quintiles, the adjusted HRs for all-cause mortality were 1.11 (95% CI: 1.05-1.16) and 1.60 (95% CI: 1.53-1.68), respectively; for all-cancer mortality were 1.07 (95% CI: 0.97-1.17) and 1.51 (95% CI: 1.38-1.66), respectively; and for CVD mortality were 1.12 (95% CI: 1.03-1.21) and 1.79 (95% CI: 1.66-1.94), respectively (all Ptrend values < 0.01). Among those in the highest relative to the lowest joint LIS/DIS quintiles, the HRs for all-cause, all-cancer, and all-CVD mortality were 1.88 (95% CI: 1.71-2.08), 1.82 (95% CI: 1.50-2.20), and 1.92 (95% CI: 1.64-2.24), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: More pro-inflammatory diets and lifestyles, separately but especially jointly, may be associated with higher all-cause, all-cancer, and all-CVD mortality risks among women.

Dietary and Lifestyle Oxidative Balance Scores and Incident Colorectal Cancer Risk among Older Women; the Iowa Women's Health Study.

BACKGROUND: Basic science literature strongly supports a role of oxidative stress in colorectal cancer (CRC) etiology, but in epidemiologic studies, associations of most individual exposures with CRC have been weak or inconsistent. However, recent epidemiologic evidence suggests that the collective effects of these exposures on oxidative balance and CRC risk may be substantial. METHODS: Using food frequency and lifestyle questionnaire data from the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study (1986-2012), we investigated associations of 11-component dietary and 4-component lifestyle oxidative balance scores (OBS) with incident CRC using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: Of the 33,736 cancer-free women aged 55-69 years at baseline, 1,632 developed CRC during follow-up. Among participants in the highest relative to the lowest dietary and lifestyle OBS quintiles (higher anti-oxidant relative to pro-oxidant exposures), the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were, respectively, 0.77 (0.63, 0.94) (Ptrend=0.02) and 0.61 (0.52, 0.71) (Ptrend<0.0001). Among those in the highest relative to the lowest joint lifestyle/dietary OBS quintile, the HR was 0.45 (95% CI 0.26, 0.77). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that a predominance of antioxidant over pro-oxidant dietary and lifestyle exposures-separately and especially jointly-may be inversely associated with CRC risk among older women.

Associations of dietary and lifestyle oxidative balance scores with mortality risk among older women: the Iowa Women's Health Study.

PURPOSE: Substantial basic science evidence suggests that oxidative stress may play a role in aging-related health outcomes, including cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cancer, and oxidative stress markers were linked with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in epidemiologic studies. However, the associations of many individual dietary and lifestyle anti-/pro-oxidant exposures with mortality are inconsistent. Oxidative balance scores (OBS) that incorporated multiple dietary and lifestyle factors were previously developed and reported to reflect the collective oxidative effects of multiple exposures. METHODS: We investigated associations of 11-component dietary and 4-component (physical activity, adiposity, alcohol, and smoking) lifestyle OBS (higher scores were considered more anti-oxidative) with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among women 55-69 years of age at baseline in the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study (1986-2012). We assessed OBS-mortality associations using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: Of the 34,137 cancer-free women included in the analytic cohort, 18,058 died (4521 from cancer, and 6825 from CVD) during a mean/median 22.0/26.1 person-years of follow-up. Among participants in the highest relative to the lowest lifestyle OBS quintiles, the adjusted hazards ratios and their 95% confidence intervals for all-cause, all-cancer, and all-CVD mortality were 0.50 (0.48, 0.53), 0.47 (0.43, 0.52), and 0.54 (0.50, 0.58) (all Ptrend < 0.001), respectively. The associations of the dietary OBS with mortality were close to null. CONCLUSION: Our findings, combined with results from previous studies, suggest that a predominance of antioxidant over pro-oxidant lifestyle exposures may be associated with lower all-cause, all-CVD, and all-cancer mortality risk.

Cross-sectional study of sex differences in psychosocial quality of life of long-term melanoma survivors.

PURPOSE: A cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment can have a significant impact on an individual's quality of life. Differences in quality of life by sex among long-term melanoma survivors remain unclear. The objective of this study was to describe sex differences in cancer-specific psychosocial quality of life of long-term melanoma survivors. METHODS: Melanoma survivors 7-10 years post-diagnosis from a previously conducted population-based case-control study were recruited for a cross-sectional survey. Validated measures of psychosocial quality of life related to melanoma diagnosis were assessed. Outcomes were compared by sex using linear regression models adjusting for age, education, income, and marital status. RESULTS: The survey response rate was 62% (433 females, 291 males; 86% stage I disease). Females were more likely to report changes in their appearance (p = 0.006) and being more fearful of recurrence (p = 0.001) or a second melanoma (p = 0.001) than males but were also more likely to report that melanoma had a positive impact on their lives (p < 0.0001). Males were more likely to agree with statements that emphasized that life's duration is limited (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Long-term melanoma survivors reported generally favorable measures of psychosocial quality of life related to their diagnosis. Females and males reported unique quality of life concerns and may require varied methods of support following a melanoma diagnosis.

The Use of the Video, "Dear 16-Year-Old Me," as a Melanoma Education Tool in Ambulatory Dermatology.

BACKGROUND: Skin cancer continues to be the most common cancer in the United States. The rise of social media platforms and internet use offers an opportunity to present health information through video-based education. The video "Dear 16-Year-OldMe," addresses the risks associated with tanning and sun exposure, the importance of practicing sun protection, and shares stories from melanoma survivors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the video "Dear 16-Year-Old Me," as a patient education tool in dermatology clinics and to investigate whether viewing a short educational video can change knowledge about skin cancer risks and intention to improve skin cancer prevention behavior. PATIENTS AND METHODS/MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS: English-speaking clinic patients between the ages of 14 to 45 years old were recruited. Exclusion criteria include both a personal or family history of skin cancer, dysplastic nevi, or other medical comorbidities. Forty-five participants agreed to participate; 38 were eligible for analysis. RESULTS: Comparison of prevideo and postvideo responses demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in participants reporting they were likely to tan outdoors (p-value = .001). A significant increase was observed in the reported likelihood to have a professional skin examination (p-value < .001) or self-examination (p-value < .001) in the future. CONCLUSION: and Relevance: Viewing "Dear 16-Year-Old Me," resulted in reported participant changes in intention to tan outdoors and participate in skin surveillance. Although these are encouraging results, future studies with a comparison group are needed to elucidate whether these results correspond to changes in behavior. In the age of viral videos and readily accessible health information via the internet, continued investigation of video media on patient health behaviors should be pursued.

Testing General Versus Specific Behavioral Focus in Messaging for the Promotion of Sun Protection Behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Recommendations for skin cancer prevention include behaviors such as using sunscreen, seeking shade, and wearing a shirt with sleeves, but the best way to persuasively communicate this information to the public is not clear. PURPOSE: To test whether a messaging strategy using videos that focus on one specific behavior at a time versus a more general or multibehavior sun protection message is effective at changing attitudinal beliefs and intention with regard to sun protection behaviors. METHODS: Online experiment among non-Hispanic white 18-49 year old adults in the USA. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, each one with health messages on a different sun protection prevention behavior: "using sunscreen" (Condition 1, n = 259), "seeking shade" (Condition 2, n = 245), or "covering up" (Condition 3, n = 289). Condition 4 (the control, n = 251) is a multibehavior message that equally promotes sunscreen, seeking shade, and covering up and features a general message on sun safety. RESULTS: ANOVA and path analysis results suggest that messages which emphasize a single sun protection behavior compared with general sun safety messaging could potentially be a promising approach. The effectiveness of the videos in influencing attitudinal beliefs varied by behavior, with some gender and age moderation. There was an indirect effect on intention to use sunscreen. CONCLUSIONS: This study advances our understanding of strategies for skin cancer prevention campaigns. Specifically, it suggests that focusing on a single sun protection behavior with targeted beliefs may be valuable as a first step in encouraging sun safety.

Examination of use and barriers for five sun protection strategies in parents and their children.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Sun protection starting in childhood is an important means of skin cancer prevention. Factors associated with sunscreen use have been previously described. However, less is known about factors associated with children's utilization of non-sunscreen sun protection strategies. We sought to examine parent and child characteristics, parental use of sun protection, and barriers associated with children's use of five sun protection strategies: sunscreen, shirts with sleeves, wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, and shade. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of parents of children entering kindergarten through grade 8. Survey participants were recruited at the 2016 Minnesota State Fair. RESULTS: A total of 409 parents were surveyed. The most common sun protection strategies parents reported for their child were wearing a shirt with sleeves (69.9%) and using sunscreen (61.9%), while protection via shade, wide-brimmed hats, and sunglasses were reported by less than one-quarter of parents. For each individual strategy, parents' own use of that strategy was strongly associated with that strategy in their children. Lack of child cooperation was associated with decreased use of sunscreen, shirts with sleeves, and wide-brimmed hats. CONCLUSION: Significant room for improvement exists in childhood sun protection. Parents should especially be encouraged to use shade, wide-brimmed hats, and sunglasses as methods of protection for their children. Advising parents to model seeking shade, applying sunscreen, and choosing appropriate clothing and hats may improve sun safety practices.

Effects of cancer history on functional age and mortality.

BACKGROUND: Cancer, its treatment, and associated adverse effects may accelerate the functional aging of cancer survivors. In the current study, the authors used geriatric assessment (GA) to compare the functional age of long-term cancer survivors with that of similarly aged women without a cancer history, and to examine whether functional age influences all-cause mortality differently between these 2 groups. METHODS: Participants included 1723 cancer survivors and 11,145 age-matched, cancer-free women enrolled in the Iowa Women's Health Study in 1986 who completed the 2004 questionnaire (at ages 73-88 years). GA domain deficits included ≥2 physical function limitations, ≥2 comorbidities, poor general health, poor mental health, and underweight. The risk of all-cause mortality was estimated for deficits in each GA domain between 4 groups based on the cross-classification of the presence and/or absence of cancer history and GA domain deficit (the referent group was cancer-free women without a GA deficit). RESULTS: Both cancer history and GA domain deficits significantly predicted 10-year mortality for all GA domains. Cancer survivors without deficits had a 1.3-fold to 1.4-fold risk of mortality, similar to the 1.1-fold to 1.7-fold risk noted among cancer-free women with deficits (all P < .05). Cancer survivors with deficits were found to have the highest mortality risk for 4 of 5 domains (hazard ratio range, 1.6-2.0). Mortality risk increased with the increasing number of GA deficits, which was greater in cancer survivors compared with cancer-free women. CONCLUSIONS: Even without GA deficits, cancer survivors appear to have an excess risk of death compared with women without cancer, and these deficits add to mortality risk. Interventions are needed to maintain or improve functional/physiological capacity as women age, especially in cancer survivors.

Associations of Calcium, Vitamin D, and Dairy Product Intakes with Colorectal Cancer Risk among Older Women: The Iowa Women's Health Study.

Calcium and, to a lesser extent, dairy products are consistently modestly inversely associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). Dairy products may contain components other than calcium and fat, such as insulin-like growth factor-1, that may affect CRC risk. In the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study, calcium, dairy product, and vitamin D intakes were assessed using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. To investigate dairy products independent of their calcium components, we estimated residuals from linear regression models of their associations with dietary calcium. Of the 35,221 55-69-year-old cancer-free women at baseline in 1986, 1,731 developed CRC during follow-up through 2012. For those in the highest relative to the lowest intake quintiles, the adjusted hazards ratios and 95% confidence intervals from multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models for overall and distal CRC were 0.81 (0.67-0.98; Ptrend = 0.004) and 0.59 (0.44-0.80; Ptrend = 0.003), respectively, for total calcium; and 0.79 (0.66-0.94; Ptrend = 0.01) and 0.69 (0.53-0.90; Ptrend = 0.003) for total dairy products, respectively. The various dairy product residuals were not associated with CRC. These results support that, among women, calcium and dairy products may be inversely associated with CRC-perhaps primarily distal CRC-but suggest that the non-calcium, non-fat component of dairy products may not be associated with CRC.

Associations of calcium and dairy product intakes with all-cause, all-cancer, colorectal cancer and CHD mortality among older women in the Iowa Women's Health Study.

Ca and dairy product intakes may be inversely associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and non-Ca components of dairy products, such as insulin-like growth factor-1, may be independently associated with mortality. We investigated associations of Ca and dairy product intakes with all-cause, all-cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC) and CHD mortality among 35 221 55- to 69-year-old women in the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study, who were cancer-free in 1986. We assessed diet using a Willett FFQ, and associations using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. We estimated residuals from linear regression models of dairy products with dietary Ca to investigate total and specific dairy products independent of their Ca content. Through 2012, 18 687 participants died, including 4665 from cancer (including 574 from CRC) and 3603 from CHD. For those in the highest relative to the lowest quintiles of intake, the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI for total Ca (dietary plus supplemental) were 0·88 (0·83, 0·93; P trend=0·001) for all-cause mortality, 0·91 (0·81, 1·02; P trend=0·34) for all-cancer mortality, 0·60 (0·43, 0·83; P trend=0·002) for CRC mortality and 0·73 (0·64, 0·83; P trend <0·0001) for CHD mortality. The corresponding HR for associations of whole milk, whole milk residuals, and low-/non-fat milk residuals with all-cause mortality were 1·20 (95 % CI 1·13, 1·27), 1·20 (95 % CI 1·13, 1·28) and 0·91 (95 % CI 0·86, 0·96), respectively. These results suggest that Ca may be associated with lower risk of all-cause, CRC and CHD mortality, and that non-Ca components of milk may be independently associated with mortality.

Associations of evolutionary-concordance diet, Mediterranean diet and evolutionary-concordance lifestyle pattern scores with all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

Various individual diet and lifestyle factors are associated with mortality. Investigating these factors collectively may help clarify whether dietary and lifestyle patterns contribute to life expectancy. We investigated the association of previously described evolutionary-concordance and Mediterranean diet pattern scores and a novel evolutionary-concordance lifestyle pattern score with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in the prospective Iowa Women's Health Study (1986-2012). We created the diet pattern scores from Willett FFQ responses, and the lifestyle pattern score from self-reported physical activity, BMI and smoking status, and assessed their associations with mortality, using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Of the 35 221 55- to 69-year-old cancer-free women at baseline, 18 687 died during follow-up. The adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI for all-cause, all CVD, and all-cancer mortality among participants in the highest relative to the lowest quintile of the evolutionary-concordance lifestyle score were, respectively, 0·52 (95 % CI 0·50, 0·55), 0·53 (95 % CI 0·49, 0·57) and 0·51 (95 % CI 0·46, 0·57). The corresponding findings for the Mediterranean diet score were HR 0·85 (95 % CI 0·82, 0·90), 0·83 (95 % CI 0·76, 0·90) and 0·93 (95 % CI 0·84, 1·03), and for the evolutionary-concordance diet score they were close to null and not statistically significant. The lowest estimated risk was among those in the highest joint quintile of the lifestyle score and either diet score (both Pinteraction <0·01). Our findings suggest that (1) a more Mediterranean-like diet pattern and (2) a more evolutionary-concordant lifestyle pattern, alone and in interaction with a more evolutionary-concordant or Mediterranean diet pattern, may be inversely associated with mortality.

Cardiovascular disease mortality among women with endometrial cancer in the Iowa Women's Health Study.

PURPOSE: Obesity is associated with endometrial cancer (EC) development and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. As the number of obese EC survivors continues to increase, an examination of CVD mortality in this vulnerable population is warranted. METHODS: In the Iowa Women's Health Study (1986-2011), we examined CVD mortality among 552 women with EC compared with 2,352 age- and body mass index-matched women without EC (controls). Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for CVD mortality were estimated using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models stratified by an indicator for match set. RESULTS: Compared to controls, women with EC more often reported a history of diabetes, hypertension, and never smoking. Compared with controls, women with EC had lower CVD mortality (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.56-0.99), and higher all-cause mortality (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.30-1.74). CONCLUSIONS: Although some CVD risk factors were more common in women with versus without EC, CVD mortality was lower among the former group. Additional well-adjusted analyses with larger study populations are needed to understand interactions between CVD risk factors with CVD mortality among EC survivors. The CVD risk factor profile of EC survivors warrants emphasis on cardiovascular health.

Comparison of quality of life among long-term melanoma survivors and non-melanoma controls: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: Little is known about specific concerns facing long-term melanoma survivors. The goal of this study was to compare quality of life (QOL) and mental health between long-term melanoma survivors and population controls. METHODS: Participants from a previously conducted case-control study of risk factors for melanoma were recruited for a cross-sectional survey. Generic QOL and emotional health were measured using the SF-36 and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale questionnaires. A total of 724 melanoma survivors and 660 controls participated. Most melanoma survivors had stage I disease (85.6%); mean time from diagnosis was 9.6 ± 1.0 years. Comparisons of QOL measures between melanoma survivors and controls were conducted using regression models, adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: Melanoma survivors, compared to controls, reported statistically significant but only slightly higher physical functioning and bodily pain QOL subscale scores than controls and otherwise similar QOL as measured by the remaining six SF-36 subscale scores. Prevalence of anxiety (18.1% vs. 19.3%, adjusted OR = 1.00 (0.74, 1.36); p = 1.00) and depression (7.2% vs. 9.8%, adjusted OR = 0.74 (0.48, 1.16); p = 1.00) were similar between melanoma survivors and controls. CONCLUSION: Long-term early stage melanoma survivors report similar general QOL and mental health compared to population controls. Further research is needed to identify concerns more specific to melanoma.