Abstract B03: Dietary patterns during high school and risk of colorectal adenoma in a cohort of middle-aged women

Abstract Background: Adolescent diet may be etiologically relevant for later risk of colorectal adenoma (CRA), a precursor of colorectal cancer. Objective: To examine associations between adolescent dietary patterns (derived using factor analysis) and risk of CRA in middle adulthood. Design: We analyzed data from 17,221 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study II, who had completed a validated high school (HS) food frequency questionnaire in 1998 when they were 34-51 years old, and had subsequently undergone at least one lower bowel endoscopy. Results: Between 1998 and 2007, 1,299 women were diagnosed with at least one CRA. In multivariable models adjusted for adult dietary patterns, a higher “prudent” pattern during HS, characterized by high consumption of vegetables, fruit, and fish was associated with a statistically significantly lower risk of rectal (odds ratio (OR) highest versus lowest quintile, 0.45, 95% CI 0.27-0.75, p-trend=0.005), but not colon adenomas. A higher “Western” pattern during HS, characterized by high consumption of desserts and sweets, snack foods, and red and processed meat, was significantly associated with rectal (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.12-2.85, p-trend=0.005) and advanced (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.07-2.33, p-trend=0.08), but not associated with colon or non-advanced adenomas. Conclusions: This study suggests that overall eating patterns during high school may influence later risk of rectal and advanced adenoma, independent of adult diet. Our results support the hypothesis that diet during early life may influence colorectal carcinogenesis. Citation Format: Katherina Nimptsch, Vasanti S. Malik, Teresa Fung, Tobias Pischon, Frank B. Hu, Walter C. Willett, Charles S. Fuchs, Shuji Ogino, Andrew T. Chan, Edward L. Giovannucci, Kana Wu. Dietary patterns during high school and risk of colorectal adenoma in a cohort of middle-aged women. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr B03.