Alcohol drinking is strongly related to cancer of the upper digestive tract, but the pattern of risk with alcohol drinking is clearly different for cancer of the stomach and colon-rectum. All twelve cohort studies and three-quarters of 40 case-control investigations on the topic weigh against the possibility of a substantial effect of alcohol consumption on the risk of stomach cancer. Evidence is still insufficient to establish whether cancer of the cardiac region of the stomach is related to alcohol intake to any different extent than the rest of the stomach. With reference to colorectal cancer, different types of epidemiological studies are consistent in suggesting some direct relations with alcohol drinking. The association, however, is moderate, and an elevated risk of a factor 2--or even of a factor 1.5--for both cancers of the colon and rectum can now be excluded even for the highest levels of alcohol consumption.

In spite of mixed trends, suicide remains a significant public health problem worldwide.

The priority for further reduction of cancer mortality in the EU remains tobacco control together with more widespread availability of modern diagnostic and treatment procedures for neoplasms that are amenable to treatment.

The relation between allergy and cancer has been investigated within an integrated series of case-control studies of digestive tract and laryngeal neoplasms conducted in Italy since the early 1990s. These included 598 patients with incident, histologically confirmed cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, 304 of the oesophagus, 1225 of the colon, 728 of the rectum, 460 of the larynx and 4999 controls, selected among patients admitted to the same network of hospitals as cases for acute, non-neoplastic diseases. Inverse associations with history of allergy were found for all cancer sites examined (odds ratio=0.44 for oral cavity and pharynx, 0.80 for oesophagus, 0.76 for colon, 0.54 for rectum and 0.33 for larynx). The associations were consistent in strata of age and sex, and when subjects with a first diagnosis of allergy 5 or more years before cancer diagnosis or hospital admission were considered. The present study therefore provides further evidence for a possible protective effect of prior history of allergy on cancer risk.

Aims and background To update estimates of smoking prevalence in Italy to the year 2002. Methods Population-based, face-to-face survey conducted by the DOXA (the Italian Branch of the Gallup International Association) in March-April 2002 on 3,238 individuals aged 15 or over, representative of the whole Italian population. Results Overall, 26.6% of Italian adults were current cigarette smokers (31.1% of men, 22.3% of women); 19.9% of men and 10.4% of women smoked 15 or more cigarettes per day. Ex-smokers were 15.2% (21.9% of men, 9.0% of women). There was no appreciable difference with reference to geographic area or education in men, but more educated women were more frequently smokers (28%). Compared to 2001, reported smoking prevalence declined by 3.7% in men and 1.3% in women, and the fall was evident in various age groups, including the youngest one (15–24 years). However, part of the fall is likely due to increased underreporting, since these survey figures are appreciably underestimated as compared to sale data. Among ex-smokers, 84% had stopped without support. Among smokers, 37% had tried at least once to stop. Using the Fagerström questionnaire, 69.5% of smokers were classified as low or very low dependent, whereas only 20.0% of smokers were classified as high or very high dependent. Women, younger and elderly, as well as more educated smokers of both sexes tended to be less dependent. Conclusions Self-reported smoking prevalence tends to decline in Italy, although the overall figure (26.6% of Italian adults) remains considerably higher than the USA and several Western European countries.

Limited information is available on the association between the risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) and dietary factors. The issue was investigated using data from a case-control study conducted in Italy between 1992 and 1994, including 542 patients with incident, histologically confirmed CMM and 538 controls, admitted to the same hospitals as cases for non-dermatologic and non-neoplastic diseases. We found a significant inverse association between vitamin A intake and CMM risk. The multivariate odds ratio, after allowance for phenotypic characteristics and history of sunburns, for the highest, compared with the lowest, quartile of intake was 0.71 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50-1.02) for beta-carotene, 0.57 (95% CI 0.39-0.83) for retinol, and 0.51 (95% CI 0.35-0.74) for total vitamin A. We found no appreciable association of CMM risk with selected food items, including fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, wholemeal bread, alcohol, coffee and tea drinking. Consumption of tea appeared to have a protective effect on CMM risk. The relations with measures of dietary vitamin A are, however, moderate compared with the associations between phenotypic characteristics, sun exposure and number of naevi and CMM risk.

Circulating levels of adiponectin, a hormone with insulin-sensitizing properties, are decreased in conditions related to obesity and hyperinsulinemia, which are recognized risk factors for endometrial cancer. Eighty-seven cases with incident, histologically confirmed endometrial cancer and 132 controls admitted for acute, nonneoplastic diseases were interviewed in northeastern Italy between 1999 and 2002, and blood samples were collected. Levels of adiponectin were evaluated in samples by means of a RIA. An inverse association with endometrial cancer risk emerged for plasma adiponectin levels [odds ratio (OR), 0.42; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-0.94] when comparing the highest vs. the lowest tertiles. Similar results emerged for serum adiponectin (OR, 0.30; 95% confidence interval, 0.14-0.68). The association was stronger in pre- than in postmenopausal women, but no significant heterogeneity was observed across strata of body mass index (BMI) or parity. BMI and adiponectin showed independent effects on the risk of endometrial cancer according to a multiplicative model (OR, 6.45 in the highest level of BMI and in the lowest one of adiponectin).

Mortality data, abstracted from the World Health Organization database, are presented in tabular form for 26 cancer sites or groups of sites, plus total cancer mortality, in 36 European countries during the period 1995-1999. Trends in mortality are also given in graphic form for 23 major countries plus the European Union as a whole over the period 1960-1999. In the European Union, total cancer mortality declined by 7% for both sexes over the last 5 years considered. The fall since the late 1980s was 10% in both sexes, corresponding to the avoidance of over 90000 deaths per year, as compared to the rates of the late 1980s. For the first time, over the last few years, some leveling of mortality was reported also in the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European countries, although cancer rates in those areas remain exceedingly high. The overall favorable pattern of cancer mortality over recent years is largely driven by the decline of tobacco-related cancer mortality in men. However, important components of the trends are also the persistence of substantial falls in gastric cancer, mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe, the recent decline in intestinal cancer in both sexes and of breast cancer in women, together with the long-term falls in uterine (cervical) cancer, leukemias, Hodgkin's disease and other neoplasms amenable to advancements in diagnosis and treatment. Female lung cancer mortality has been declining in the Russian Federation, but is still rising in other areas of the continent. Thus, urgent intervention is needed to bring under control the tobacco-related lung cancer epidemic in European women before it reaches the high level observed in North America. Supplementary material for this article can be found on the International Journal of Cancer website at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0020-7136/suppmat/index.html

This study suggests a protective role of IGFBP-3 and a positive association of IGFBP-1 with ovarian cancer. The complex role of the IGF system in ovarian carcinogenesis deserves further clarification.

An increasing number of studies are focusing on the potential association between dietary folate intake and risk of various cancers ([1][1]), particularly of the colorectum and breast ([2][2], [3][3]). A low folate status can induce misincorporation of uracil into DNA, leading to chromosome breaks