Physical and mental health of 40,000 older women in England during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021).

BACKGROUND: To assess factors associated with perceived changes in physical and mental health and with delays in seeking healthcare during the second and third COVID-19 lockdowns in England (2020-2021). METHODS: An online survey of Million Women Study participants collected data on 44,523 women, mean age 76 (SD = 4), October 2020-May 2021. These data were linked to data collected prospectively on Million Women Study participants at recruitment in median year 1998 and at re-surveys in 2011-2013, as well as to hospital admission data from 2017-2019. RESULTS: Of 40,821 participants with complete data on the outcomes of interest, 28% reported worse physical health and 26% worse mental health. After adjustment for age, region, education and survey period, poor/fair self-rated health (adjusted OR 2.71, 95% CI 2.52-2.91), having been told to shield (1.92, 1.79-2.05), obesity (2.17, 2.04-2.31) and other measures of poor health prior to the outbreak were all strongly related to worse physical health, as was being an informal carer (1.47, 1.38-1.56) and having a COVID-19 infection (1.64, 1.53-1.77). Depression (2.31, 2.06-2.58), poor/fair self-rated health (1.98, 1.84-2.13) and being an informal carer (1.69, 95% CI 1.58-1.80) were the factors most strongly related to worse mental health. Having poor/fair self-rated health (2.22, 2.05-2.40), obesity (1.58, 1.47-1.70) and being an informal carer (1.45, 1.34-1.56) were all strongly related to delaying seeking medical care. These associations remained essentially unchanged after exclusion of participants who had a COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSIONS: In a large sample of older women in England, just over a quarter reported a deterioration in their physical and mental health during the national lockdowns. In addition to the expected effect of a COVID-19 infection on physical health, the groups who were most likely to report such a deterioration were those with pre-existing morbidity and those who were caring for others as informal carers.

Alcohol intake and endogenous sex hormones in women: Meta-analysis of cohort studies and Mendelian randomization.

BACKGROUND: The mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced breast carcinogenesis are not fully understood but may involve hormonal changes. METHODS: Cross-sectional associations were investigated between self-reported alcohol intake and serum or plasma concentrations of estradiol, estrone, progesterone (in premenopausal women only), testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in 45 431 premenopausal and 173 476 postmenopausal women. Multivariable linear regression was performed separately for UK Biobank, European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, and Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group, and meta-analyzed the results. For testosterone and SHBG, we also conducted Mendelian randomization and colocalization using the ADH1B (alcohol dehydrogenase 1B) variant (rs1229984). RESULTS: Alcohol intake was positively, though weakly, associated with all hormones (except progesterone in premenopausal women), with increments in concentrations per 10 g/day increment in alcohol intake ranging from 1.7% for luteal estradiol to 6.6% for postmenopausal dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. There was an inverse association of alcohol with SHBG in postmenopausal women but a small positive association in premenopausal women. Two-sample randomization identified positive associations of alcohol intake with total testosterone (difference per 10 g/day increment: 4.1%; 95% CI, 0.6-7.6) and free testosterone (7.8%; 4.1-11.5), and an inverse association with SHBG (-8.1%; -11.3% to -4.9%). Colocalization suggested a shared causal locus at ADH1B between alcohol intake and higher free testosterone and lower SHBG (posterior probability for H4, 0.81 and 0.97, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol intake was associated with small increases in sex hormone concentrations, including bioavailable fractions, which may contribute to its effect on breast cancer risk.

Identifying proteomic risk factors for cancer using prospective and exome analyses of 1463 circulating proteins and risk of 19 cancers in the UK Biobank.

The availability of protein measurements and whole exome sequence data in the UK Biobank enables investigation of potential observational and genetic protein-cancer risk associations. We investigated associations of 1463 plasma proteins with incidence of 19 cancers and 9 cancer subsites in UK Biobank participants (average 12 years follow-up). Emerging protein-cancer associations were further explored using two genetic approaches, cis-pQTL and exome-wide protein genetic scores (exGS). We identify 618 protein-cancer associations, of which 107 persist for cases diagnosed more than seven years after blood draw, 29 of 618 were associated in genetic analyses, and four had support from long time-to-diagnosis ( > 7 years) and both cis-pQTL and exGS analyses: CD74 and TNFRSF1B with NHL, ADAM8 with leukemia, and SFTPA2 with lung cancer. We present multiple blood protein-cancer risk associations, including many detectable more than seven years before cancer diagnosis and that had concordant evidence from genetic analyses, suggesting a possible role in cancer development.

A comparative analysis of risk factor associations with interval and screen-detected breast cancers: A large UK prospective study.

The associations of certain factors, such as age and menopausal hormone therapy, with breast cancer risk are known to differ for interval and screen-detected cancers. However, the extent to which associations of other established breast cancer risk factors differ by mode of detection is unclear. We investigated associations of a wide range of risk factors using data from a large UK cohort with linkage to the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme, cancer registration, and other health records. We used Cox regression to estimate adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between risk factors and breast cancer risk. A total of 9421 screen-detected and 5166 interval cancers were diagnosed in 517,555 women who were followed for an average of 9.72 years. We observed the following differences in risk factor associations by mode of detection: greater body mass index (BMI) was associated with a smaller increased risk of interval (RR per 5 unit increase 1.07, 95% CI 1.03-1.11) than screen-detected cancer (RR 1.27, 1.23-1.30); having a first-degree family history was associated with a greater increased risk of interval (RR 1.81, 1.68-1.95) than screen-detected cancer (RR 1.52, 1.43-1.61); and having had previous breast surgery was associated with a greater increased risk of interval (RR 1.85, 1.72-1.99) than screen-detected cancer (RR 1.34, 1.26-1.42). As these differences in associations were relatively unchanged after adjustment for tumour grade, and are in line with the effects of these factors on mammographic density, they are likely to reflect the effects of these risk factors on screening sensitivity.

Rheumatoid arthritis and cancer risk in the Million Women Study.

BACKGROUND: Most previous studies of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and cancer risk have lacked information on potential confounding factors. We investigated RA-associated cancer risks in a large cohort of women in the UK, taking account of shared risk factors. METHODS: In 1996-2001, women aged 50-64, who were invited for routine breast screening at 66 National Health Service (NHS) screening centres in England and Scotland, were also invited to take part in the Million Women Study. Participants provided information on sociodemographic, lifestyle and health-related factors, including RA, and were followed up for cancers and deaths. Cox regression yielded RA-associated hazard ratios (HRs) of 20 cancers, adjusted for 10 characteristics including smoking status and adiposity. RESULTS: Around 1.3 million women (half of those invited) were recruited into the study. In minimally adjusted analyses, RA was associated with the risk of 13 of the 20 cancers. After additional adjustment for lifestyle factors, many of these associations were attenuated but there remained robust evidence of RA-associated increases in the risk of lung (HR 1.21, 95% confidence interval 1.15-1.26), lymphoid (1.25, 1.18-1.33), myeloid (1.12, 1.01-1.25), cervical (1.39, 1.11-1.75) and oropharyngeal (1.40, 1.21-1.61) cancers, and decreases in the risk of endometrial (0.84, 0.77-0.91) and colorectal (0.82, 0.77-0.87) cancers. CONCLUSIONS: After taking account of shared risk factors, RA is positively associated with lung and certain blood and infection-related cancers, and inversely associated with colorectal cancer. These findings are consistent with existing hypotheses around immune response, susceptibility to infections, and chronic inflammation. The inverse association observed for endometrial cancer merits further investigation.

Multimorbidity of cardiovascular disease subtypes in a prospective cohort of 1.2 million UK women.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular multimorbidity (CVM) is the co-occurrence of multiple cardiovascular disease subtypes (CVDs) in one person. Because common patterns and incidence of CVM are not well-described, particularly in women, we conducted a descriptive study of CVM in the Million Women Study, a large population-based cohort of women. METHODS: UK women aged 50-64 years were followed up using hospital admissions and mortality records for an average of 19 years. CVM was defined as having ≥2 of 19 selected CVDs. The age-specific cumulative incidence of CVM between age 60 and 80 years was estimated. The numbers and proportions of individual, pairs and other combinations of CVDs that comprised incident CVM were calculated. For each individual CVD subtype, age-standardised proportions of the counts of other co-occurring CVDs were estimated. RESULTS: The age-specific likelihood of having CVM nearly doubled every 5 years between age 60 and 80 years. Among 1.2 million women without CVD at study baseline, 16% (n=196 651) had incident CVM by the end of follow-up. Around half of all women with CVM had a diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease (n=102 536) or atrial fibrillation (n=96 022), almost a third had heart failure (n=72 186) and a fifth had stroke (n=40 442). The pair of CVDs with the highest age-adjusted incidence was ischaemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation (18.95 per 10 000 person-years). Over 60% of individuals with any given CVD subtype also had other CVDs, after age standardisation. CONCLUSIONS: CVM is common. The majority of women with any specific CVD subtype eventually develop at least one other. Clinical and public health guidelines for CVD management should acknowledge this high likelihood of CVM.

Alcohol intake and endogenous sex hormones in women: meta-analysis of cohort studies and Mendelian randomization.

Background: The mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced breast carcinogenesis are not fully understood but may involve hormonal changes. Methods: We investigated cross-sectional associations between self-reported alcohol intake and serum or plasma concentrations of oestradiol, oestrone, progesterone (in pre-menopausal women only), testosterone, androstenedione, DHEAS (dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate) and SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) in 45 431 pre-menopausal and 173 476 post-menopausal women. We performed multivariable linear regression separately for UK Biobank, EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) and EHBCCG (Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group), and meta-analysed the results. For testosterone and SHBG, we also conducted two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) and colocalisation using the ADH1B (Alcohol Dehydrogenase 1B) variant (rs1229984). Results: Alcohol intake was positively, though weakly, associated with all hormones (except progesterone in pre-menopausal women), with increments in concentrations per 10 g/day increment in alcohol intake ranging from 1.7% for luteal oestradiol to 6.6% for post-menopausal DHEAS. There was an inverse association of alcohol with SHBG in post-menopausal women but a small positive association in pre-menopausal women. MR identified positive associations of alcohol intake with total testosterone (difference per 10 g/day increment: 4.1%; 95% CI: 0.6%, 7.6%) and free testosterone (7.8%; 4.1%, 11.5%), and an inverse association with SHBG (-8.1%; -11.3%, -4.9%). Colocalisation suggested a shared causal locus at ADH1B between alcohol intake and higher free testosterone and lower SHBG (PP4: 0.81 and 0.97 respectively). Conclusions: Alcohol intake was associated with small increases in sex hormone concentrations, including bioavailable fractions, which may contribute to its effect on breast cancer risk.

Alcohol consumption and cancer incidence in women: interaction with smoking, body mass index and menopausal hormone therapy.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol consumption has been associated with increased risks of certain site-specific cancers and decreased risks of some other cancers. There is, however, little reliable evidence as to whether the alcohol-associated risks for specific cancers are modified by smoking, body mass index (BMI) and menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) use. METHODS: In the prospective UK Million Women Study, 1,233,177 postmenopausal women without prior cancer, mean age 56 (SD 5) years, reported their alcohol consumption in median year 1998 (IQR 1998-1999), and were followed by record-linkage for incident cancer. 438,056 women who drank no alcohol or < 1 drink/week were excluded. Cox regression yielded adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for 21 cancers by alcohol amount; statistical significance of interactions with smoking, BMI and MHT use was assessed after allowing for multiple testing. RESULTS: In 795,121 participants, mean consumption was 6.7 (SD 6.4) alcoholic drinks/week. During 17 (SD 5) years of follow-up, 140,203 incident cancers were recorded. There was strong evidence for a substantial association between alcohol intake and risk of upper aero-digestive cancers (oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, oral cavity, pharynx and larynx; RR per 1 drink/day = 1.38 [95% CI 1.31-1.46]). There was also strong evidence for more moderate positive associations with breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer (RRs per 1 drink/day = 1.12 [1.10-1.14], 1.10 [1.07-1.13], 1.08 [1.02-1.13] respectively), and moderate negative associations with thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, renal cell carcinoma and multiple myeloma (RRs per 1 drink/day = 0.79 [0.70-0.89], 0.91 [0.86-0.95], 0.88 [0.83-0.94], 0.90 [0.84-0.97] respectively). Significant interactions between alcohol and smoking were seen for upper aero-digestive cancers (RRs per 1 drink/day = 1.66 [1.54-1.79], 1.23 [1.11-1.36], 1.12 [1.01-1.25] in current, past, and never smokers respectively). BMI and MHT did not significantly modify any alcohol-associated risks. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide robust evidence that greater alcohol intake, even within relatively moderate ranges, increases the risk of cancers of the aerodigestive tract, breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer, and probably decreases the risk of thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, renal cell carcinoma and multiple myeloma. Associations of alcohol intake with cancer risk were not modified by MHT use, adiposity or smoking, except in the case of upper aero-digestive cancers, where the alcohol-associated risk was largely confined to smokers.

Adiposity and risk of oesophageal cancer subtypes in the Million Women Study.

BACKGROUND: The strong association of body mass index (BMI) with increased oesophageal adenocarcinoma risk is established, but its relationship with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is less clear. There is little evidence regarding the association of abdominal adiposity with either subtype. METHODS: In a large prospective cohort of women in the UK, mean age 56.2 [standard deviation (SD) = 4.9] years, we investigated the risk of oesophageal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma in relation to self-reported BMI, waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR), using Cox regression to estimate adjusted relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), taking account of potential reverse causation bias. RESULTS: During mean follow-up of 17.7 (SD = 4.9) years, 1386 adenocarcinomas and 1799 squamous cell carcinomas of the oesophagus were registered among 1 255 529 women. Compared with women of BMI 22.5 to <25 kg/m2, those with BMI ≥35 kg/m2 had a 2.5-fold risk of adenocarcinoma (adjusted RR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.99-3.05) and an almost 70% reduction in risk of squamous cell carcinoma (RR = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.22-0.46). These associations were broadly similar in each 5-year follow-up period, and were evident in both never and ever smokers, although somewhat stronger for squamous cell carcinoma among current and past smokers than in never smokers (Pheterogeneity = 0.007). After controlling for BMI, WC and WHR were associated with risk of squamous cell carcinoma but not adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: In this population of middle-aged women, there was robust evidence that greater BMI is associated with an increased risk of oesophageal adenocarcinoma and a reduced risk of squamous cell carcinoma.

Multi-morbidity and its association with common cancer diagnoses: a UK Biobank prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Whilst multi-morbidity is known to be a concern in people with cancer, very little is known about the risk of cancer in multi-morbid patients. This study aims to investigate the risk of being diagnosed with lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer associated with multi-morbidity. METHODS: We investigated the association between multi-morbidity and subsequent risk of cancer diagnosis in UK Biobank. Cox models were used to estimate the relative risks of each cancer of interest in multi-morbid participants, using the Cambridge Multimorbidity Score. The extent to which reverse causation, residual confounding and ascertainment bias may have impacted on the findings was robustly investigated. RESULTS: Of the 436,990 participants included in the study who were cancer-free at baseline, 21.6% (99,965) were multi-morbid (≥ 2 diseases). Over a median follow-up time of 10.9 [IQR 10.0-11.7] years, 9,019 prostate, 7,994 breast, 5,241 colorectal, and 3,591 lung cancers were diagnosed. After exclusion of the first year of follow-up, there was no clear association between multi-morbidity and risk of colorectal, prostate or breast cancer diagnosis. Those with ≥ 4 diseases at recruitment had double the risk of a subsequent lung cancer diagnosis compared to those with no diseases (HR 2.00 [95% CI 1.70-2.35] p for trend < 0.001). These findings were robust to sensitivity analyses aimed at reducing the impact of reverse causation, residual confounding from known cancer risk factors and ascertainment bias. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with multi-morbidity are at an increased risk of lung cancer diagnosis. While this association did not appear to be due to common sources of bias in observational studies, further research is needed to understand what underlies this association.

Total sleep duration and daytime napping in relation to dementia detection risk: Results from the Million Women Study.

INTRODUCTION: There is inconsistent evidence on the associations of sleep duration and daytime napping with dementia risk. METHODS: In the Million Women Study, a total of 830,716 women (mean age, 60 years) were asked about sleep duration (<7, 7-8, >8 hours) and daytime napping (rarely/never, sometimes, usually) in median year 2001, and were followed for the first hospital record with any mention of dementia. Cox regression estimated dementia detection risk ratios (RRs) during 17-year follow-up in 5-year intervals. RESULTS: With 34,576 dementia cases, there was strong attenuation over follow-up in the RRs related to long sleep duration (>8 vs 7-8 hours) and usually napping (vs rarely/never). Short sleep duration was modestly, positively associated with dementia in the long term (RR = 1.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.12). DISCUSSION: There was little evidence to suggest that long sleep duration and regular napping are associated with long-term dementia risk. Short sleep duration was modestly associated with dementia risk, but residual confounding cannot be excluded. HIGHLIGHTS: Long sleep duration was not associated with long-term dementia risk. Daytime napping was not associated with long-term dementia risk. There is some evidence for a small higher risk of dementia related to short sleep.

Depression, anxiety, psychotropic drugs, and acute myocardial infarction: large prospective study of United Kingdom women.

BACKGROUND: Reported associations between depression and myocardial infarction in some studies might be explained by use of psychotropic drugs, residual confounding, and/or reverse causation (whereby heart disease precedes depression). We investigated these hypotheses in a large prospective study of UK women with no previous vascular disease. METHODS: At baseline in median year 2001 (IQR 2001-2003), Million Women Study participants reported whether or not they were currently being treated for depression or anxiety, their self-rated health, and medication use during the previous 4 weeks. Follow-up was through linkage to national hospital admission and mortality databases. Cox regression yielded adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the first myocardial infarction event in those reporting treatment for depression or anxiety (subdivided by whether or not the treatment was with psychotropic drugs) v. not, and stratified by self-reported health and length of follow-up. RESULTS: During mean follow-up of 13.9 years of 690 335 women (mean age 59.8 years) with no prior heart disease, stroke, transient ischaemic attack, or cancer, 12 819 had a first hospital admission or death from myocardial infarction. The aHRs for those reporting treatment for depression or anxiety with, and without, regular use of psychotropic drugs were 0.96 (95% CI 0.89-1.03) and 0.99 (0.89-1.11), respectively. No associations were found separately in women who reported being in good/excellent or poor/fair health or by length of follow-up. CONCLUSION: The null findings in this large prospective study are consistent with depression not being an independent risk factor for myocardial infarction.

Body size in early life and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Greater early life adiposity has been reported to reduce postmenopausal breast cancer risk but it is unclear whether this association varies by tumour characteristics. We aimed to assess associations of early life body size with postmenopausal breast cancer and its subtypes, allowing for body size at other ages. METHODS: A total of 342,079 postmenopausal UK women who reported their body size at age 10, clothes size at age 20, and body mass index (BMI) at baseline (around age 60) were followed by record linkage to national databases for cancers and deaths. Cox regression yielded adjusted relative risks (RRs) of breast cancer, overall and by tumour subtype, in relation to body size at different ages. RESULTS: During an average follow-up of 14 years, 15,506 breast cancers were diagnosed. After adjustment for 15 potential confounders, greater BMI at age 60 was associated with an increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer (RR per 5 kg/m2=1.20, 95%CI 1.18-1.22) whereas greater adiposity in childhood and, to a lesser extent, early adulthood, was associated with a reduced risk (0.70, 0.66-0.74, and 0.92, 0.89-0.96, respectively). Additional adjustment for midlife BMI strengthened associations with BMI at both age 10 (0.63, 0.60-0.68) and at age 20 (0.78, 0.75-0.81). The association with midlife adiposity was confined to hormone sensitive subtypes but early life adiposity had a similar impact on the risk of all subtypes. CONCLUSION: Early life and midlife adiposity have opposite effects on postmenopausal breast cancer risk and the biological mechanisms underlying these associations are likely to differ.

Cellular Telephone Use and the Risk of Brain Tumors: Update of the UK Million Women Study.

BACKGROUND: The ongoing debate of whether use of cellular telephones increases the risk of developing a brain tumor was recently fueled by the launch of the fifth generation of wireless technologies. Here, we update follow-up of a large-scale prospective study on the association between cellular telephone use and brain tumors. METHODS: During 1996-2001, 1.3 million women born in 1935-1950 were recruited into the study. Questions on cellular telephone use were first asked in median year 2001 and again in median year 2011. All study participants were followed via record linkage to National Health Services databases on deaths and cancer registrations (including nonmalignant brain tumors). RESULTS: During 14 years follow-up of 776 156 women who completed the 2001 questionnaire, a total of 3268 incident brain tumors were registered. Adjusted relative risks for ever vs never cellular telephone use were 0.97 (95% confidence interval = 0.90 to 1.04) for all brain tumors, 0.89 (95% confidence interval = 0.80 to 0.99) for glioma, and not statistically significantly different to 1.0 for meningioma, pituitary tumors, and acoustic neuroma. Compared with never-users, no statistically significant associations were found, overall or by tumor subtype, for daily cellular telephone use or for having used cellular telephones for at least 10 years. Taking use in 2011 as baseline, there were no statistically significant associations with talking for at least 20 minutes per week or with at least 10 years use. For gliomas occurring in the temporal and parietal lobes, the parts of the brain most likely to be exposed to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields from cellular telephones, relative risks were slightly below 1.0. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the accumulating evidence that cellular telephone use under usual conditions does not increase brain tumor incidence.

Ovarian cancer survival by stage, histotype, and pre-diagnostic lifestyle factors, in the prospective UK Million Women Study.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer mortality in UK women. Ovarian cancer survival varies by disease stage at diagnosis, but evidence is mixed on the effect of tumour histological type (histotype) and other factors. METHODS: 1.3 million UK women completed a detailed health questionnaire in 1996-2001 and were followed for incident cancers and deaths via linkage to national databases. Using Cox regression models, we estimated adjusted relative risks (RRs) of death from ovarian cancer, by stage at diagnosis, tumour histotype, and 16 other personal characteristics of the women. RESULTS: During 17.7 years' average follow-up, 13,222 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and 8697 of them died from the disease. Stage at diagnosis was a major determinant of survival (stage IV vs I, RR=10.54, 95% CI: 9.16-12.13). Histotype remained a significant predictor after adjustment for stage and other factors, but associations varied over the follow-up period. Histotype-specific survival was worse for high-grade than low-grade tumours. Survival appeared worse with older age at diagnosis (per 5 years: RR=1.19, 95% CI: 1.15-1.22), higher BMI (per 5-unit increase: RR=1.06, 95% CI: 1.02-1.11), and smoking (current vs never: RR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.07-1.27), but there was little association with 13 other pre-diagnostic reproductive, anthropometric, and lifestyle factors. CONCLUSION: Stage at diagnosis is a strong predictor of ovarian cancer survival, but tumour histotype and grade remain predictors of survival even after adjustment for stage and other factors, contributing further evidence of biological dissimilarity between the ovarian cancer histotypes. Obesity and smoking represent potentially-modifiable determinants of survival, but the stronger association with stage suggests that improving earlier diagnosis would have a greater impact on increasing ovarian cancer survival.

Alcohol Intake and Endogenous Hormones in Pre- and Postmenopausal Women: Findings from the UK Biobank.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol intake may influence breast cancer risk in women through hormonal changes, but the evidence to date is inconclusive. We investigated cross-sectional associations between habitual alcohol intake and serum concentrations of testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and estradiol (premenopausal women only) in UK Biobank. METHODS: We included 30,557 premenopausal and 134,029 postmenopausal women aged between 40 and 69 years when recruited between 2006 and 2010. At their initial assessment visit, habitual alcohol intake was assessed using a touchscreen questionnaire, and serum hormone concentrations were assayed. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: Per 10 g/day increment in alcohol intake, testosterone concentration was 3.9% [95% confidence intervals (CI): 3.3%-4.5%] higher in premenopausal women and 2.3% (1.8%-2.7%) higher in postmenopausal women (P heterogeneity < 0.0001); SHBG concentration was 0.7% (0.2%-1.1%) higher in premenopausal women and 2.4% (2.2%-2.6%) lower in postmenopausal women (P heterogeneity < 0.0001); and IGF-1 concentration was 1.9% (1.7%-2.1%) lower in premenopausal women and 0.8% (0.6%-0.9%) lower in postmenopausal women (P heterogeneity < 0.0001). In premenopausal women, there was no significant overall association of alcohol with estradiol but a positive association was observed in the early and mid-luteal phases: 1.9% (95% CI: 0.2%-3.6%) and 2.4% (95% CI: 0.7%-4.2%) higher, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms significant but modest associations between alcohol intake and hormones, with evidence of heterogeneity by menopausal status. IMPACT: The findings facilitate better understanding of whether alcohol intake influences hormone concentrations, but further work is necessary to fully understand the mechanisms linking alcohol with cancer risk.

Endogenous hormones and risk of invasive breast cancer in pre- and post-menopausal women: findings from the UK Biobank.

BACKGROUND: Some endogenous hormones have been associated with breast cancer risk, but the nature of these relationships is not fully understood. METHODS: UK Biobank was used. Hormone concentrations were measured in serum collected in 2006-2010, and in a repeat subsample (N ~ 5000) in 2012-13. Incident cancers were identified through data linkage. Cox regression models were used, and hazard ratios (HRs) corrected for regression dilution bias. RESULTS: Among 30,565 pre-menopausal and 133,294 post-menopausal women, 527 and 2,997, respectively, were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during a median follow-up of 7.1 years. Cancer risk was positively associated with testosterone in post-menopausal women (HR per 0.5 nmol/L increment: 1.18; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.23) but not in pre-menopausal women (pheterogeneity = 0.03), and with IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) (HR per 5 nmol/L increment: 1.18; 1.02, 1.35 (pre-menopausal) and 1.07; 1.01, 1.12 (post-menopausal); pheterogeneity = 0.2), and inversely associated with SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin) (HR per 30 nmol/L increment: 0.96; 0.79, 1.15 (pre-menopausal) and 0.89; 0.84, 0.94 (post-menopausal); pheterogeneity = 0.4). Oestradiol, assessed only in pre-menopausal women, was not associated with risk, but there were study limitations for this hormone. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms associations of testosterone, IGF-1 and SHBG with breast cancer risk, with heterogeneity by menopausal status for testosterone.

Social isolation and risk of heart disease and stroke: analysis of two large UK prospective studies.

BACKGROUND: Social isolation has been associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. However, it is unclear whether the associations differ between fatal and non-fatal events or by the type of isolation (living alone or having few social contacts). We aimed to examine these associations in two large UK prospective cohorts. METHODS: Million Women Study and UK Biobank participants without previous coronary heart disease or stroke who provided data in median year 2010 (IQR 2009-2011) on social contacts were included in this prospective analysis. Participants were followed up to median year 2017 (2017-2017) by electronic linkage to national hospital and death records. Risk ratios (RRs) were calculated using Cox regression for first coronary heart disease and stroke event (overall, and separately for hospital admission as the first event and for death without an associated hospital admission as the first event) by three levels of social isolation (based on living alone, contact with family or friends, and group participation) adjusted for age, sex, study, region, deprivation, smoking, alcohol intake, body-mass index, physical activity, and self-rated health. FINDINGS: 938 558 participants were included in our analyses (mean age 63 years [SD 9]): 481 946 participants from the Million Women Study (mean age 68 years [5]) and 456 612 participants (mean age 57 years [8]) from UK Biobank. During a mean follow-up period of 7 years (2), 42 402 first coronary heart disease events (of which 1834 were fatal without an associated hospital admission) and 19 999 first stroke events (of which 529 were fatal without an associated hospital admission) occurred. Little, if any, association was found between social isolation and hospital admission for a first coronary heart disease or stroke event (combined RR for both studies 1·01 [95% CI 0·98-1·04] for coronary heart disease and 1·13 [1·08-1·18] for stroke, when comparing the most isolated group with the least isolated group). However, the risk of death without an associated hospital admission was substantially higher in the most isolated group than the least isolated group for coronary heart disease (1·86 [1·63-2·12]) and stroke (1·91 [1·48-2·46]). For coronary heart disease or stroke death as the first event, RRs were substantially higher (test for heterogeneity, p=0·002) for participants living alone versus those not living alone (1·60 [1·46-1·75]) than for those with fewer versus more contact with family, friends, or groups (1·27 [1·16-1·38]). These findings did not differ greatly between studies, or by self-rated health. INTERPRETATION: Social isolation seems to have little direct effect on the risk of developing a first coronary heart disease or stroke. By contrast, social isolation substantially increases the risk that the first such event is fatal before reaching hospital, particularly among people who live alone, perhaps because of the absence of immediate help in responding to an acute heart attack or stroke. FUNDING: UK Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK.