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Abstract: Advances in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer have been associated with changes in clinico-epidemiological characteristics and cancer-specific mortality. Secular trends of prostate cancer patients and its correlation with PSA implementation and the introduction of combined radiation and hormonal therapy (RT+HT) were assessed in a cohort of 910 cancer patients with histologically confirmed prostate cancer diagnosed between 1992 and 2005, and included in a hospital-based database. Relative survival before and after 1999 (when RT+HT for locally advanced disease was introduced) was compared. The mean age at diagnosis decreased from 72.9years in 1992–1996 to 68.7 in 2003–2005 and the median PSA from 34 to 8ng/ml. In patients with stages II and III, there was an increase in the indication of RT with or without HT and a decrease in the indication of surgery (from 87.5% to 44.2%). The overall relative 5-year survival increased from 67.3% (95% CI 60.2–75.2) to 92.9% (95% CI 87.3–98.9). The same trend in stage II and stage III cancer patients was found. There was an increase in survival coincidentally with a shift towards lower stages and PSA levels at presentation. Besides other factors, changes in death rates since 1999 could be explained by secular variations in the treatment of the disease, particularly the implementation of RT+HT in intermediate and high-risk locally advanced prostate cancer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An increased bladder cancer risk has been suggested among users of hair dyes. We evaluated this association among females in a hospital-based case-control study in Spain (152 female incident cases, 166 female controls). The effect of hair dye use was also evaluated among potentially susceptible subgroups defined by NAT1, NAT2, CYP1A2, GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 genotypes. Use of any hair dye (OR=0.8, CI 0.5–1.4) or of permanent hair dyes (OR=0.8, CI 0.5–1.5) was not associated with increased risk. Small non-significant increases in risks were observed in a lagged analysis that ignores exposures within ten years of diagnosis (OR=1.3, CI 0.8–2.2). No trend in risk with increasing exposure was seen for duration of use, average use or cumulative use. None of the polymorphisms examined significantly modified the hair dye associated risk. Overall, this study does not support an association between hair dye use and bladder cancer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]