Coffee and pancreatic cancer risk among never-smokers in the UK prospective Million Women Study.

Reported associations between coffee consumption and an increased risk of pancreatic cancer could be due to residual confounding by smoking and/or biased recall of coffee consumption in retrospective studies. Studying associations prospectively in never smokers should minimize these problems, but thus far such studies have included relatively small numbers of cases. In our study, 309,797 never-smoking women self-reported typical daily coffee consumption at a mean age of 59.5 years (SD 5.0 years) and were followed up for a median of 13.7 years (IQR: 12.2-14.9) through record linkage to national health cancer and death registries. During this period, 962 incident cases of pancreatic cancers were registered. Cox regression was used to calculate adjusted relative risks [RRs] of incident pancreatic cancer with 95% confidence intervals [CIs] in relation to coffee consumption at baseline. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, including body mass index and alcohol consumption, RRs of pancreatic cancer in never-smokers who reported usually consuming 1-2, 3-4, and ≥ 5 cups of coffee daily, compared to nondrinkers of coffee, were 1.02 (CI 0.83-1.26), 0.96 (0.76-1.22), and 0.87 (0.64-1.18), respectively (trend p = 0.2). A meta-analysis of results from this cohort and 3 smaller prospective studies found little or no statistically significant association between coffee consumption and pancreatic cancer risk in never smokers (summary RR = 1.00, CI 0.86-1.17 for ≥2 vs. zero cups of coffee per day).

Risk Factors for Cataracts Treated Surgically in Postmenopausal Women.

PURPOSE: To identify risk factors for cataracts treated surgically in postmenopausal women. DESIGN: Population-based, prospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1 312 051 postmenopausal women in the UK Million Women Study, aged 56 years on average (standard deviation [SD], 4.8), without previous cataract surgery, hospital admission with cataracts, or cancer at baseline, were followed for cataracts treated surgically. METHODS: Cox regression was used to calculate adjusted relative risks (RRs) for cataract surgery by lifestyle factors, treatment for diabetes, reproductive history, and use of hormonal therapies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cataract surgery identified by linkage to central National Health Service (NHS) records for inpatient and day-patient admissions (Hospital Episode Statistics for England and Scottish Morbidity Records in Scotland). RESULTS: Overall, 89 343 women underwent cataract surgery during an average of 11 (SD, 3) years of follow-up. Women with diabetes were at greatest risk (diabetes vs. no diabetes RR, 2.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.82-2.97). Other factors associated with an increased risk of cataract surgery were current smoking (current smokers of ≥15 cigarettes/day vs. never smokers RR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.23-1.30) and obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥30 vs. <25 kg/m(2); RR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.10-1.14). CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes, smoking, and obesity were risk factors for cataract surgery. Alcohol use, physical activity, reproductive history, and use of hormonal therapies had little, if any, association with cataract surgery risk.

Tea and coffee and risk of endometrial cancer: cohort study and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Previous reports, mostly from retrospective studies, suggested possible protective effects of both tea and coffee against endometrial cancer, but recent reports from prospective studies generally showed weaker or null associations. OBJECTIVES: We investigated endometrial cancer risk in relation to tea and coffee consumption in a large prospective study and did a meta-analysis of published results. DESIGN: Daily consumption of tea and coffee was recorded in 560,356 participants (without a hysterectomy) in the UK Million Women Study of whom 4067 women developed endometrial cancer during 5.2 million person-years of follow up (average: 9.3 y per woman). RESULTS: With the use of Cox proportional hazards regression, we showed no significant association between endometrial cancer risk and consumption of either tea (multivariate adjusted RR per cup daily: 1.00; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.02) or coffee (RR per cup daily: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.96, 1.01). Our meta-analyses showed no significant association between endometrial cancer risk and tea consumption and a weak association for coffee consumption in prospective studies, but there may have been selective publication of only part of the evidence. CONCLUSIONS: There is little or no association between tea consumption and endometrial cancer risk. If there is any association with coffee consumption, it appears to be weak.

Menopausal hormone therapy and breast cancer risk: impact of different treatments. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) is characterized by use of different constituents, regimens and routes of administration. We investigated the association between the use of different types of MHT and breast cancer risk in the EPIC cohort study. The analysis is based on data from 133,744 postmenopausal women. Approximately 133,744 postmenopausal women contributed to this analysis. Information on MHT was derived from country-specific self-administered questionnaires with a single baseline assessment. Incident breast cancers were identified through population cancer registries or by active follow-up (mean: 8.6 yr). Overall relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were derived from country-specific Cox proportional hazard models estimates. A total of 4312 primary breast cancers were diagnosed during 1,153,747 person-years of follow-up. Compared with MHT never users, breast cancer risk was higher among current users of estrogen only (RR: 1.42, 95% CI 1.23-1.64) and higher still among current users of combined MHT (RR: 1.77, 95% CI 1.40-2.24; p = 0.02 for combined vs. estrogen-only). Continuous combined regimens conferred a 43% (95% CI: 19-72%) greater risk compared with sequential regimens. There was no significant difference between progesterone and testosterone derivatives in sequential regimens. There was no significant variation in risk linked to the estrogenic component of MHT, neither for oral vs. cutaneous administration nor for estradiol compounds vs. conjugated equine estrogens. Estrogen-only and combined MHT uses were associated with increased breast cancer risk. Continuous combined preparations were associated with the highest risk. Further studies are needed to disentangle the effects of the regimen and the progestin component.