Effect of Personalized Email-Based Reminders on Participants' Timeliness in an Online Education Program: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Postsecondary students need to be able to handle self-regulated learning and manage schedules set by instructors. This is particularly the case with online courses, as they often come with a limited number of social reminders and less information directly from the teacher compared to courses with physical presence. This may increase procrastination and reduce timeliness of the students. Reminders may be a tool to improve the timeliness of students' study behavior, but previous research shows that the effect of reminders differs between types of reminders, whether the reminder is personalized or general, and depending on the background of the students. In the worst cases, reminders can even increase procrastination. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test if personalized email reminders, as compared to general email reminders, affect the time to completion of scheduled online coursework. The personalized reminders included information on which page in the online material the participants ought to be on at the present point in time and the last page they were on during their last session. The general reminders only contained the first part of this information: where they ought to be at the present point in time. METHODS: Weekly email reminders were sent to all participants enrolled in an online program, which included 39 professional learners from three East African countries. All participants in the Online Education for Leaders in Nutrition and Sustainability program, which uses a question-based learning methodology, were randomly assigned to either personalized or general reminders. The structure of the study was AB-BA, so that group A received personalized reminders for the first unit, then general reminders for the rest of the course, while group B started with general reminders and received personalized reminders only in the third (and last) unit in the course. RESULTS: In total, 585 email reminders were distributed, of which 390 were general reminders and 195 were personalized. A Bayesian mixed-effects logistic regression was used to estimate the difference in the probability of being on time with one's studies. The probability of being on time was 14 percentage points (95% credible interval 3%-25%) higher following personalized reminders compared to that following general reminders. For a course with 100 participants, this means 14 more students would be on time. CONCLUSIONS: Personalized reminders had a greater positive effect than general reminders for a group of adults working full-time while enrolled in our online educational program. Considering how small the intervention was-adding a few words with the page number the student ought to be on to a reminder-we consider this effect fairly substantial. This intervention could be repeated manually by anyone and in large courses with some basic programming.

The effect of an app-based dietary intervention on diet-related greenhouse gas emissions - results from a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Dietary change towards a diet low in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) can reduce climate impact and improve individual-level health. However, there is a lack of understanding if diet interventions can achieve low-GHGE diets. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted to assess the effects of an app-based intervention. The intervention was designed to improve dietary intake of people with Type 2 diabetes, and was delivered via an app over 12 weeks, with each week covering one diet-related topic. Dietary intake was assessed at baseline and 3-month follow up by a 95-item food frequency questionnaire and linked to GHGE values. A total of n = 93 participants (n = 46 and n = 47 for the intervention and control group, respectively) were included in the analysis. Changes to GHGEs within and between the groups were analysed with inferential statistics. RESULTS: The majority (60%) of participants were male, with a mean age of 63.2 years and body mass index of 30 kg/m2. At baseline, diet-related GHGEs were 4.8 and 4.9 kg CO2-eq/day in the intervention and control group, respectively. At 3-month follow up the corresponding GHGEs were 4.7 and 4.9 kg CO2-eq/day. We found no statistically significant changes to diet-related GHGEs within or between groups, or within food categories, from baseline to 3-month follow up. CONCLUSION: No evidence was found for the effectiveness of the app-based intervention to generate changes to diet-related GHGEs in a population of people with Type 2 diabetes. However, future interventions that target reducing meat consumption specifically may have the potential to result in a reduction of individual-level diet-related GHGEs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03784612. Registered 24 December 2018. www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov/ct2/show/NCT03784612 .

Is leisure time sitting associated with mortality rates among men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer?

OBJECTIVE: Being physically active postdiagnosis has been associated with lower rates of prostate cancer progression and mortality, but studies investigating postdiagnostic time spent sitting are lacking. We aim to study the association between leisure time sitting after a prostate cancer diagnosis and overall and prostate cancer-specific mortality. METHODS: Data from 4595 men in Sweden, diagnosed with localized prostate cancer between 1997-2002 and followed-up until the end of 2012, were analyzed. Time spent sitting during leisure time postdiagnosis was categorized into <2, 2-3, 3-4, and >4 h/day. Multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of postdiagnosis leisure time sitting and a joint variable of sitting time and exercise, and time to overall or prostate cancer-specific death. RESULTS: The results showed no significant associations between postdiagnostic leisure time sitting and overall or prostate cancer-specific mortality rates. When the joint effect of both sitting and exercise time was considered, borderline significantly lower mortality rates for overall and prostate cancer-specific mortality were seen among participants that sat the least and exercised the most compared to the reference category with participants sitting the most and exercising least (HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.56-1.00 and HR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.36-1.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: No significant association between leisure time sitting and mortality rates among men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer was seen. This study does not support an association between leisure time sitting per se; however, being physically active may have beneficial effects on survival among men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer.

Adherence to dietary recommendations for Swedish adults across categories of greenhouse gas emissions from food.

OBJECTIVE: To explore associations between diet-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), nutrient intakes and adherence to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations among Swedish adults. DESIGN: Diet was assessed by 4d food records in the Swedish National Dietary Survey. GHGE was estimated by linking all foods to carbon dioxide equivalents, using data from life cycle assessment studies. Participants were categorized into quartiles of energy-adjusted GHGE and differences between GHGE groups regarding nutrient intakes and adherence to nutrient recommendations were explored. SETTING: Sweden. SUBJECTS: Women (n 840) and men (n 627) aged 18-80 years. RESULTS: Differences in nutrient intakes and adherence to nutrient recommendations between GHGE groups were generally small. The dietary intake of participants with the lowest emissions was more in line with recommendations regarding protein, carbohydrates, dietary fibre and vitamin D, but further from recommendations regarding added sugar, compared with the highest GHGE group. The overall adherence to recommendations was found to be better among participants with lower emissions compared with higher emissions. Among women, 27 % in the lowest GHGE group adhered to at least twenty-three recommendations compared with only 12 % in the highest emission group. For men, the corresponding figures were 17 and 10 %, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The study compared nutrient intakes as well as adherence to dietary recommendations for diets with different levels of GHGE from a national dietary survey. We found that participants with low-emission diets, despite higher intake of added sugar, adhered to a larger number of dietary recommendations than those with high emissions.

Is a diet low in greenhouse gas emissions a nutritious diet? - Analyses of self-selected diets in the LifeGene study.

BACKGROUND: Climate change is an urgent global issue and the food sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Here we study if a diet low in GHGE could be a nutritious diet compared to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR). METHODS: The environmental impact of foods from Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data was linked to a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) filled out by 5,364 participants in the Swedish LifeGene study. Thereafter, we calculated the daily emission of CO2 equivalents (CO2e) as well as the intake of selected nutrients associated with vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy products. The CO2e was divided into quartiles were quartile 1 corresponds to a diet generating the lowest CO2e, and quartile 4 corresponds to a diet with the highest CO2e. RESULTS: The overall diet-related emission was 4.7 kg CO2e/day and person, corresponding to 1.7 ton CO2e/year. In general, there were only small differences in nutrient intake between groups of varying levels of CO2e, regardless if the intake was analyzed as absolute intake, energy percent or as nutrient density. Moreover, adherence to NNR was high for the group with the lowest CO2e, except for saturated fat where the intake was higher than recommended for all CO2e groups. On the other hand, only the group with the lowest CO2e fulfilled recommended intake of fiber. However, none of the CO2e groups reached the recommended intake of folate and vitamin D. CONCLUSIONS: Here we show that a self-selected diet low in CO2e provides comparable intake of nutrients as a diet high in in CO2e.

Total antioxidant intake and prostate cancer in the Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS) study. A case control study.

BACKGROUND: The total intake of dietary antioxidants may reduce prostate cancer risk but available data are sparse and the possible role of supplements unclear. We investigated the potential association between total and dietary antioxidant intake and prostate cancer in a Swedish population. METHODS: We used FFQ data from 1499 cases and 1112 controls in the population based case-control study Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS). The ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assay was used to assess the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of diet and supplements. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for the risk of prostate cancer across quintiles of antioxidant intake from all foods, from fruit and vegetables only, and from dietary supplements using unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Coffee comprised 62 % of the dietary antioxidant intake, tea 4 %, berries 4 %, chocolate 2 %, and boiled potatoes 2 %. In total 19 % and 13 % of the population took multivitamins and supplemental Vitamin C respectively, on a regular basis. Antioxidant intake from all foods and from fruits and vegetables separately measured by the FRAP assay was not associated with prostate cancer risk. For antioxidant intake from supplements we found a positive association with total, advanced, localized, high grade and low grade prostate cancer in those above median supplemental TAC intake of users compared to non-users (Adjusted ORs for total prostate cancer: 1.37, 95 % CI 1.08-1.73, advanced: 1.51, 95 % CI 1.11-2.06, localized: 1.36. 95 % CI 1.06-1.76, high grade 1.60, 95 % CI 1.06-2.40, low grade 1.36, 95 % CI 1.03-1.81). A high intake of coffee (≥6 cups/day) was associated with a possible risk reduction of fatal and significantly with reduced risk for high grade prostate cancer, adjusted OR: 0.45 (95 % CI: 0.22-0.90), whereas a high intake of chocolate was positively associated with risk of total, advanced, localized and low grade disease (adjusted OR for total: 1.43, 95 % CI 1.12-1.82, advanced: 1.40, 95 % CI 1.01-1.96, localized: 1.43, 95 % CI 1.08-1.88, low-grade: 1.41, 95 % CI 1.03-1.93). CONCLUSIONS: Total antioxidant intake from diet was not associated with prostate cancer risk. Supplement use may be associated with greater risk of disease.

Body mass index in relation to serum prostate-specific antigen levels and prostate cancer risk.

High Body mass index (BMI) has been directly associated with risk of aggressive or fatal prostate cancer. One possible explanation may be an effect of BMI on serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). To study the association between BMI and serum PSA as well as prostate cancer risk, a large cohort of men without prostate cancer at baseline was followed prospectively for prostate cancer diagnoses until 2015. Serum PSA and BMI were assessed among 15,827 men at baseline in 2010-2012. During follow-up, 735 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer with 282 (38.4%) classified as high-grade cancers. Multivariable linear regression models and natural cubic linear regression splines were fitted for analyses of BMI and log-PSA. For risk analysis, Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) and natural cubic Cox regression splines producing standardized cancer-free probabilities were fitted. Results showed that baseline Serum PSA decreased by 1.6% (95% CI: -2.1 to -1.1) with every one unit increase in BMI. Statistically significant decreases of 3.7, 11.7 and 32.3% were seen for increasing BMI-categories of 25 < 30, 30 < 35 and ≥35 kg/m(2), respectively, compared to the reference (18.5 < 25 kg/m(2)). No statistically significant associations were seen between BMI and prostate cancer risk although results were indicative of a positive association to incidence rates of high-grade disease and an inverse association to incidence of low-grade disease. However, findings regarding risk are limited by the short follow-up time. In conclusion, BMI was inversely associated to PSA-levels. BMI should be taken into consideration when referring men to a prostate biopsy based on serum PSA-levels.

Diet-related greenhouse gas emissions assessed by a food frequency questionnaire and validated using 7-day weighed food records.

BACKGROUND: The current food system generates about 25 % of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), including deforestation, and thereby substantially contributes to the warming of the earth's surface. To understand the association between food and nutrient intake and GHGE, we therefore need valid methods to assess diet-related GHGE in observational studies. METHODS: Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies assess the environmental impact of different food items. We linked LCA data expressed as kg carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) per kg food product to data on food intake assessed by the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) Meal-Q and validated it against a 7-day weighed food record (WFR). 166 male and female volunteers aged 20-63 years completed Meal-Q and the WFR, and their food intake was linked to LCA data. RESULTS: The mean GHGE assessed with Meal-Q was 3.76 kg CO2e per day and person, whereas it was 5.04 kg CO2e using the WFR. The energy-adjusted and deattenuated Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were 0.68 and 0.70, respectively. Moreover, compared to the WFR, Meal-Q provided a good ranking ability, with 90 % of the participants classified into the same or adjacent quartile according to their daily average CO2e. The Bland-Altman plot showed an acceptable level of agreement between the two methods and the reproducibility of Meal-Q was high. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study validating the assessment of diet-related GHGE by a questionnaire. The results suggest that Meal-Q is a useful tool for studying the link between food habits and CO2e in future epidemiological studies.

The roles of stress and social support in prostate cancer mortality.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the association between perceived stress, social support, disease progression and mortality in a nationwide population-based cohort of men with prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study surveyed 4105 Swedish men treated for clinically localized prostate cancer regarding stress, grief, sleep habits and social support. Associations between these factors and mortality were assessed using multivariate Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: Men with the highest levels of perceived stress had a statistically significantly increased rate of prostate cancer-specific mortality compared with men with low stress levels (hazard ratio 1.66, 95% confidence interval 1.05-2.63). Men with high stress levels also had a high frequency of grieving and sleep loss. They also had fewer people with whom to share their emotional problems and felt an inability to share most of their problems with partners, friends and family. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to the growing field of psychosocial quality of life research in men with prostate cancer. The findings show a significant association between prostate cancer-specific mortality and perceived stress in patients initially diagnosed with localized, non-metastatic prostate cancer. Significant associations between perceived stress and various psychosocial factors were also seen. The findings of this study could prove useful to target interventions to improve quality of life in men with prostate cancer.

Body size across the life course and prostate cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.

Current evidence of an association between body size and prostate cancer is conflicting, possibly due to differential effects of body size across the lifespan and the heterogeneity of the disease. We therefore examined childhood and adult body size in relation to total incident prostate cancer and prognostic subtypes in a prospective cohort of 47,491 US men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. We assessed adult height, body mass index (BMI) in early and middle-to-late adulthood, adult waist circumference, and body shape at age 10. With follow-up from 1986 to 2010, we estimated the relative risk (RR) of prostate cancer using Cox proportional hazards models. We identified 6,183 incident cases. Tallness was associated with increased risk of advanced-stage tumors, particularly fatal disease (RR = 1.66, 95% CI 1.23-2.23, highest vs. lowest quintile, ptrend < 0.001). High BMI at age 21 was inversely associated with total prostate cancer (RR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.80-0.98, BMI ≥ 26 vs. 20-21.9, ptrend = 0.01) and with fatal and advanced disease. The association for late adult BMI differed by age (pinteraction < 0.001); high BMI was inversely associated with total prostate cancer (RR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.51-0.78, BMI ≥ 30 vs. 21-22.9, ptrend <0.001) and with non-advanced and less aggressive tumors among men ≤ 65 years, whereas no association was seen among men >65 years. Adult waist circumference was weakly inversely associated with less aggressive disease. Childhood obesity was unclearly related to risk. Our study confirms tall men to be at increased risk of fatal and advanced prostate cancer. The influence of adiposity varies by prognostic disease subtype and by age. The relationship between body size and prostate cancer is complex. Body size changes progressively throughout life and consequent effects on prostate cancer risk may be associated with related changes in hormonal and metabolic pathways. This large prospective study examined potential associations between the risk of various prostate cancer subtypes and multiple anthropometric measures at different ages in men. Tallness was confirmed to be associated with an elevated risk of advanced prostate cancer, particularly fatal disease. The extent to which body weight influenced risk varied according to factors such as age and disease subtype.

Body mass index and mortality in men with prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Body Mass index (BMI) has been shown to affect risk and mortality of several cancers. Prostate cancer and obesity are major public health concerns for middle-aged and older men. Previous studies of pre-diagnostic BMI have found an increased risk of prostate cancer mortality in obese patients. OBJECTIVE: To study the associations between BMI at time of prostate cancer diagnosis and prostate cancer specific and overall mortality. METHODS: BMI was analyzed both as a continuous variable and categorized into four groups based on the observed distribution in the cohort (BMI < 22.5, 22.5 < 25, 25 < 27.5 and ≥27.5 kg/m2). The association between BMI and mortality was assessed using stratified Cox proportional hazards models and by fitting regression splines for dose response analysis in 3,161 men diagnosed with prostate cancer. After 11 years of follow up via linkage to the population-based cause of death registry, we identified 1,161 (37%) deaths off which 690 (59%) were due to prostate cancer. RESULTS: High BMI (BMI ≥ 27.5 kg/m2) was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of prostate cancer specific mortality (HR:1.44, 95% CI: 1.09-1.90) and overall mortality (HR:1.33, 95% CI: 1.09-1.63) compared to the reference group (BMI 22.5 < 25 kg/m2). Additionally, men with a low BMI (<22.5 kg/m2 ), had a statistically significant increased risk of prostate cancer specific mortality (HR:1.33, 95% CI: 1.02-1.74) and overall mortality (HR:1.36, 95% CI: 1.11-1.67) compared to the reference. However, this effect disappeared when men who died within the first two years of follow-up were excluded from the analyses while the increased risk of prostate cancer specific mortality and overall mortality remained statistically significant for men with a BMI ≥ 27.5 kg/m2 (HR:1.44, 95% CI: 1.09-1.90 and HR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.09-1.63, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study showed that a high BMI at time of prostate cancer diagnosis was associated with increased overall mortality.

Background risk of breast cancer and the association between physical activity and mammographic density.

INTRODUCTION: High physical activity has been shown to decrease the risk of breast cancer, potentially by a mechanism that also reduces mammographic density. We tested the hypothesis that the risk of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years according to the Tyrer-Cuzick prediction model influences the association between physical activity and mammographic density. METHODS: We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of 38,913 Swedish women aged 40-74 years. Physical activity was assessed using the validated web-questionnaire Active-Q and mammographic density was measured by the fully automated volumetric Volpara method. The 10-year risk of breast cancer was estimated using the Tyrer-Cuzick (TC) prediction model. Linear regression analyses were performed to assess the association between physical activity and volumetric mammographic density and the potential interaction with the TC breast cancer risk. RESULTS: Overall, high physical activity was associated with lower absolute dense volume. As compared to women with the lowest total activity level (<40 metabolic equivalent hours [MET-h] per day), women with the highest total activity level (≥50 MET-h/day) had an estimated 3.4 cm(3) (95% confidence interval, 2.3-4.7) lower absolute dense volume. The inverse association was seen for any type of physical activity among women with <3.0% TC 10-year risk, but only for total and vigorous activities among women with 3.0-4.9% TC risk, and only for vigorous activity among women with ≥5.0% TC risk. The association between total activity and absolute dense volume was modified by the TC breast cancer risk (P interaction = 0.05). As anticipated, high physical activity was also associated with lower non-dense volume. No consistent association was found between physical activity and percent dense volume. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that physical activity may decrease breast cancer risk through reducing mammographic density, and that the physical activity needed to reduce mammographic density may depend on background risk of breast cancer.

Physical activity and survival among men diagnosed with prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated the association between post-diagnosis physical activity and mortality among men diagnosed with prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of physical activity after a prostate cancer diagnosis on both overall and prostate cancer-specific mortality in a large cohort. METHODS: Data from 4,623 men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer 1997-2002 and followed-up until 2012 were analyzed. HRs with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models to examine the association between post-diagnosis recreational MET-h/d, time spent walking/bicycling, performing household work or exercising, and time to overall and prostate cancer-specific death. All models were adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS: During the follow-up, 561 deaths of any cause and 194 deaths from prostate cancer occurred. Statistically significantly lower overall mortality rates were found among men engaged in ≥5 recreational MET-h/d (HR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.52-0.77), walking/bicycling ≥20 min/d (HR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.57-0.86), performing household work ≥1 h/d (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.59-0.86), or exercising ≥1 h/wk (HR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.61-0.90), compared with less active men within each activity type. For prostate cancer-specific mortality, statistically significantly lower mortality rates were seen among men walking/bicycling ≥20 min/d (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.43-0.87) or exercising ≥1 h/wk (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.48-0.94). CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of physical activity were associated with reduced rates of overall and prostate cancer-specific mortality. IMPACT: Our study further strengthens previous results indicating beneficial effects of physical activity on survival among men with prostate cancer.

Body mass index and weight change in men with prostate cancer: progression and mortality.

PURPOSE: Body mass index (BMI) is a modifiable lifestyle factor that has been associated with an increased risk of fatal prostate cancer and biochemical recurrence. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between the exposure BMI at the time of a prostate cancer diagnosis and weight change after diagnosis, and the outcomes of prostate cancer progression and mortality in a large cohort study. METHODS: Data from 4,376 men diagnosed with clinically localized prostate cancer between 1997 and 2002 were analyzed. BMI and weight change were self-reported in 2007. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated in complete-case analysis (n = 3,214) using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Progression was experienced among 639 (14.6 %) of the study participants, and in total, 450 (10.3 %) deaths of any cause and 134 (3.1 %) prostate cancer-specific deaths were recorded during follow-up. Obese men had a 47 % increased rate of overall mortality compared to normal weight men (HR 1.47, 95 % CI 1.03-2.10). No statistically significant associations were found for BMI and prostate cancer progression or prostate cancer-specific mortality. A weight loss >5 % after diagnosis almost doubled the rate of overall mortality compared to maintaining a stable weight (HR 1.94, 95 % CI 1.41-2.66), while a weight gain >5 % was associated with an almost doubled increased rate of prostate cancer-specific mortality (HR 1.93, 95 % CI 1.18-3.16). CONCLUSIONS: Being obese was associated with an increased rate of overall mortality, and gaining weight after a prostate cancer diagnosis was associated with an increased rate of prostate cancer-specific mortality.

Smoking and risk of coronary heart disease in younger, middle-aged, and older adults.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated associations of smoking and coronary heart disease (CHD) by age. METHODS: Data came from the Pooling Project on Diet and Coronary Heart Disease (8 prospective studies, 1974-1996; n = 192,067 women and 74,720 men, aged 40-89 years). RESULTS: During follow-up, 4326 cases of CHD were reported. Relative to never smokers, CHD risk among current smokers was highest in the youngest and lowest in the oldest participants. For example, among women aged 40 to 49 years the hazard ratio was 8.5 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 5.0, 14) and 3.1 (95% CI = 2.0, 4.9) among those aged 70 years or older. The largest absolute risk differences between current smokers and never smokers were observed among the oldest participants. Finally, the majority of CHD cases among smokers were attributable to smoking. For example, attributable proportions of CHD by age group were 88% (40-49 years), 81% (50-59 years), 71% for (60-69 years), and 68% (≥ 70 years) among women who smoked. CONCLUSIONS: Among smokers, the majority of CHD cases are attributable to smoking in all age groups. Smoking prevention is important, irrespective of age.

Lifetime body size and prostate cancer risk in a population-based case-control study in Sweden.

PURPOSE: The role of body size in prostate cancer etiology is unclear and potentially varies by age and disease subtype. We investigated whether body size in childhood and adulthood, including adult weight change, is related to total, low-intermediate-risk, high-risk, and fatal prostate cancer. METHODS: We used data on 1,499 incident prostate cancer cases and 1,118 population controls in Sweden. Body figure at age 10 was assessed by silhouette drawings. Adult body mass index (BMI) and weight change were based on self-reported height and weight between ages 20 and 70. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) by unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Height was positively associated with prostate cancer. Overweight/obesity in childhood was associated with a 54 % increased risk of dying from prostate cancer compared to normal weight, whereas a 27 % lower risk was seen in men who were moderately thin (drawing 2) in childhood (P trend = 0.01). Using BMI <22.5 as a reference, we observed inverse associations between BMI 22.5 to <25 at age 20 and all prostate cancer subtypes (ORs in the range 0.72-0.82), and between mean adult BMI 25 to <27.5 and low-intermediate-risk disease (OR 0.75, 95 % CI 0.55-1.02). Moderate adult weight gain increased the risk of disease in men with low BMI at start and in short men. CONCLUSIONS: Our comprehensive life-course approach revealed no convincing associations between anthropometric measures and prostate cancer risk. However, we found some leads that deserve further investigation, particularly for early-life body size. Our study highlights the importance of the time window of exposure in prostate cancer development.

Coffee and risk of prostate cancer incidence and mortality in the Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden Study.

PURPOSE: Coffee intake has recently been associated with significantly lower risk of lethal and advanced prostate cancer in a US population. METHODS: We studied the association between coffee and prostate cancer risk in the population-based case-control study Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden. Dietary data were available for 1,499 cases and 1,112 controls. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) for the risk of prostate cancer in high versus low categories of coffee intake using logistic regression. We studied overall prostate cancer risk as well as risk of fatal, advanced, localized, high-grade, grade 7, and low-grade disease. RESULTS: Mean coffee intake was 3.1 cups per day among both cases and controls. Coffee intake was not associated with overall prostate cancer risk. Risk of fatal prostate cancer was inversely, but not statistically significantly, associated with coffee intake, with an odds ratio of 0.64 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.34-1.19, p value for linear trend = 0.81] for men consuming greater than 5 cups per day compared to men drinking less than 1 cup per day. The highest intake of coffee was associated non-significantly with lower risk of advanced disease (OR = 0.73, 95 % CI 0.41-1.30, p trend = 0.98) and associated significantly with lower risk of high-grade cancer (Gleason 8-10; OR = 0.50, 95 % CI 0.26-0.98, p trend = 0.13). Risk of localized, grade 7, and low-grade cancers was not associated with coffee intake. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides some support of an inverse association between coffee and lethal and high-grade prostate cancer.

Mediterranean Diet Score and prostate cancer risk in a Swedish population-based case-control study.

Several individual components of the Mediterranean diet have been shown to offer protection against prostate cancer. The present study is the first to investigate the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the relative risk of prostate cancer. We also explored the usefulness of the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) in a non-Mediterranean population. FFQ data were obtained from 1482 incident prostate cancer patients and 1108 population-based controls in the Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS) study. We defined five MDS variants with different components or using either study-specific intakes or intakes in a Greek reference population as cut-off values between low and high intake of each component. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate the relative risk of prostate cancer for high and medium v. low MDS, as well as potential associations with the individual score components. No statistically significant association was found between adherence to the Mediterranean diet based on any of the MDS variants and prostate cancer risk (OR range: 0·96-1·19 for total prostate cancer, comparing high with low adherence). Overall, we found little support for an association between the Mediterranean diet and prostate cancer in this Northern European study population. Despite potential limitations inherent in the study or in the build-up of a dietary score, we suggest that the original MDS with study-specific median intakes as cut-off values between low and high intake is useful in assessing the adherence to the Mediterranean diet in non-Mediterranean populations.

The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations and prostate cancer risk in the Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS) study.

OBJECTIVE: The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) aim at preventing diet-associated diseases such as cancer in the Nordic countries. We evaluated adherence to the NNR in relation to prostate cancer (PC) in Swedish men, including potential interaction with a genetic risk score and with lifestyle factors. DESIGN: Population-based case-control study (Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden (CAPS), 2001-2002). Using data from a semi-quantitative FFQ, we created an NNR adherence score and estimated relative risks of PC by unconditional logistic regression. Individual score components were modelled separately and potential modifying effects were assessed on the multiplicative scale. SETTING: Four regions in the central and northern parts of Sweden. SUBJECTS: Incident PC patients (n 1386) and population controls (n 940), frequency-matched on age and region. RESULTS: No overall association with PC was found, possibly due to the generally high adherence to the NNR score and its narrow distribution in the study population. Among individual NNR score components, high compared with low intakes of polyunsaturated fat were associated with an increased relative risk of localized PC. No formal interaction with genetic or lifestyle factors was observed, although in stratified analysis a positive association between the NNR and PC was suggested among men with a high genetic risk score but not among men with a medium or low genetic risk score. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings do not support an association between NNR adherence and PC. The suggestive interaction with the genetic risk score deserves further investigations in other study populations.

Feedback in web-based questionnaires as incentive to increase compliance in studies on lifestyle factors.

OBJECTIVE: We explored the use of feedback in interactive web-based questionnaires for collecting data on lifestyle factors in epidemiological studies. DESIGN: Here we report from a cohort study on lifestyle factors and upper respiratory tract infections among 1805 men and women. We introduced interactivity in the form of personalized feedback and feedback on a group level regarding dietary intake, physical activity and incidence of infections in web-based questionnaires as incentives for the respondents to continue answering questions and stay in the study. SETTING: The study was performed in Sweden. SUBJECTS: All participants were randomly selected from the population registry. RESULTS: Personalized feedback was offered in the baseline questionnaire and feedback on a group level in the five follow-up questionnaires. In total, 88 % of the participants actively chose to get personalized feedback at least once in the baseline questionnaire. The follow-up questionnaires were sent by email and the overall compliance at each follow-up was 83-84 %, despite only one reminder. In total, 74 % completed all five follow-ups. However, the compliance was higher among those who chose feedback in the baseline questionnaire compared with those who did not choose feedback. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that it is possible to use feedback in web questionnaires and that it has the potential to increase compliance. The majority of the participants actively chose to take part in the personalized feedback in the baseline questionnaire and future research should focus on improving the design of the feedback, which may ultimately result in even higher compliance in research studies.