Search

Edefonti, Valeria Bravi, Francesca La Vecchia, Carlo Randi, Giorgia Ferraroni, Monica Garavello, Werner Franceschi, Silvia Talamini, Renato Boffetta, Paolo Decarli, Adriano eng Multicenter Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2010/03/17 06:00 Oral Oncol. 2010 May;46(5):343-8. doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2009.11.017. Epub 2010 Mar 11.; International audience; The relationship between diet and oral and pharyngeal cancer has been rarely addressed considering dietary patterns. We examined this issue using data from a case-control study carried out between 1992 and 2005. Cases were 804 incident oral cancers hospitalized in 3 Italian areas. Controls were 2080 subjects hospitalized for non-neoplastic diseases. Dietary habits were investigated through a validated 78-item food-frequency questionnaire. Overall and individual measures of sampling adequacy were calculated to assess if applying a factor analysis or not. A posteriori dietary patterns were identified through a principal component factor analysis performed on a selected set of 29 nutrients. The internal reproducibility, robustness and reliability of the identified patterns were evaluated. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using unconditional multiple logistic regression models on quintiles of factor scores. The measures of sampling adequacy were generally satisfactory. We identified five major dietary patterns named Animal products, Starch-rich, Vitamins and fiber, Unsaturated fats and Retinol and niacin. The Animal products pattern was positively associated with oral cancer (OR=1.56, 95% CI: 1.13-2.15 for the highest vs. the lowest score quintile), whereas the Starch-rich pattern (OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.50-0.99), the Vitamins and fiber pattern (OR=0.47, 95% CI: 0.34-0.65) and the Unsaturated fats pattern (OR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.45-0.86) were inversely associated with it. These findings confirm that diets rich in animal origin and animal fats are positively, and those rich in fruit and vegetables, and vegetable fats inversely related to oral and pharyngeal cancer risk.

Background: Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer death. A role of dietary factors in pancreatic carcinogenesis has been suggested. The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) published 8 recommendations for cancer prevention. We evaluated the effect of adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations on pancreatic cancer risk. Methods: We operationalized 7 of the 8 WCRF/AICR recommendations to generate a WCRF/AICR score. We examined the association of WCRF/AICR score with pancreatic cancer in data from an Italian case-control study of 326 incident cases and 652 controls. Results: Adherence to WCRF/AICR recommendations was associated with a significantly decreased risk of pancreatic cancer. Using a WCRF/AICR score

International audience; Hospital networks are an emerging organizational form designed to face the new challenges of public health systems. Although the benefits introduced by network models in terms of rationalization of resources are known, evidence about stakeholders’ perspectives on hospital network performance from the literature is scanty. Using the Competing Values Framework of organizational effectiveness and its subsequent adaptation by Minvielle et al., we conducted in 2009 a survey in five hospitals of an Italian network for oncological care to examine and compare the views on hospital network performance of internal stakeholders (physicians, nurses and the administrative staff). 329 questionnaires exploring stakeholders’ perspectives were completed, with a response rate of 65.8%. Using exploratory factor analysis of the 66 items of the questionnaire, we identified 4 factors, i.e. Centrality of relationships, Quality of care, Attractiveness/Reputation and Staff empowerment and Protection of workers’ rights. 42 items were retained in the analysis. Factor scores proved to be high (mean score > 8 on a 10-item scale), except for Attractiveness/Reputation (mean score 6.79), indicating that stakeholders attach a higher importance to relational and health care aspects. Comparison of factor scores among stakeholders did not reveal significant differences, suggesting a broadly shared view on hospital network performance.