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Background: Individual and tumour factors only explain part of observed inequalities in colorectal cancer survival in England. This study aims to investigate inequalities in treatment in patients with colorectal cancer. Methods: All patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer in England between 2012 and 2016 were followed up from the date of diagnosis (state 1), to treatment (state 2), death (state 3) or censored at 1 year after the diagnosis. A multistate approach with flexible parametric model was used to investigate the effect of income deprivation on the probability of remaining alive and treated in colorectal cancer. Results: Compared to the least deprived quintile, the most deprived with stage I–IV colorectal cancer had a lower probability of being alive and treated at all the time during follow-up, and a higher probability of being untreated and of dying. The probability differences (most vs. least deprived) of being alive and treated at 6 months ranged between −2.4% (95% CI: −4.3, −1.1) and −7.4% (−9.4, −5.3) for colon; between −2.0% (−3.5, −0.4) and −6.2% (−8.9, −3.5) for rectal cancer. Conclusion: Persistent inequalities in treatment were observed in patients with colorectal cancer at every stage, due to delayed access to treatment and premature death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Even though most pregnancies are uneventful, occasionally complications do occur. Gestational diabetes is linked to an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Early identification of women at risk of experiencing adverse outcomes, ideally through a single blood test, would facilitate early intervention. Plasma glycated CD59 (pGCD59) is an emerging biomarker which has shown promise in identifying hyperglycaemia during pregnancy and has been associated with the risk of delivering an LGA infant. The aim of this study was to explore the ability of the first- and second-trimester pGCD59 to predict adverse pregnancy outcomes. Methods: This was a prospective study of 378 pregnant women. Samples for pGCD59 were taken at the first antenatal visit and at the time of the 2 h 75 g OGTT (24–28 weeks of gestation). Adjusted receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the ability of pGCD59 to predict maternal and neonatal outcomes. Results: First-trimester pGCD59 levels were higher in women with gestational diabetes who delivered a macrosomic infant (4.2 ± 0.7 vs. 3.5 ± 1.0 SPU, p < 0.01) or an LGA infant (4.3 ± 0.3 vs. 3.6 ± 1.0 SPU, p = 0.01) compared to women with GDM that did not experience these outcomes. Second-trimester pGCD59 levels were higher in women that developed polyhydramnios (2.9 ± 0.4 vs. 2.5 ± 1.1 SPU, p = 0.03). First- and second-trimester pGCD59 predicted pregnancy-induced hypertension with good accuracy (AUC:0.85, 95%CI:0.78–0.91; AUC: 0.80, 95%CI: 0.73–0.88, respectively) and neonatal hypoglycaemia with fair to good accuracy (AUC:0.77, 95%CI: 0.54–0.99, AUC:0.81, 95%CI:0.62–0.99). Conclusions: This study has shown that pGCD59 has the potential to predict adverse pregnancy outcomes. Prospective studies with a larger number of cases are necessary to fully explore and validate the potential of this emerging biomarker in predicting adverse pregnancy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life tables summarise a population's mortality experience during a time period. Sex- and age-specific life tables are needed to compute various cancer survival measures. However, mortality rates vary according to socioeconomic status. We present sex- and age-specific life tables based on socioeconomic status at the census tract level in Spain during 2011–2013 that will allow estimating cancer relative survival estimates and life expectancy measures by socioeconomic status. Population and mortality data were obtained from the Spanish Statistical Office. Socioeconomic level was measured using the Spanish Deprivation Index by census tract. We produced sex- and age-specific life expectancies at birth by quintiles of deprivation, and life tables by census tract and province. Life expectancy at birth was higher among women than among men. Women and men in the most deprived census tracts in Spain lived 3.2 and 3.8 years less than their counterparts in the least deprived areas. A higher life expectancy in the northern regions of Spain was discovered. Life expectancy was higher in provincial capitals than in rural areas. We found a significant life expectancy gap and geographical variation by sex and socioeconomic status in Spain. The gap was more pronounced among men than among women. Understanding the association between life expectancy and socioeconomic status could help in developing appropriate public health programs. Furthermore, the life tables we produced are needed to estimate cancer specific survival measures by socioeconomic status. Therefore, they are important for cancer control in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on access to standard chemotherapy and/or monoclonal antibody therapy, and associated secular trends, relative survival, and excess mortality, among diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients is not clear. We conducted a Hong Kong population-based cohort study and identified adult patients with histologically diagnosed DLBCL between 2000 and 2018. We examined the association of SES levels with the odds and the secular trends of receipt of chemotherapy and/or rituximab. Additionally, we estimated the long-term relative survival by SES utilizing Hong Kong life tables. Among 4017 patients with DLBCL, 2363 (58.8%) patients received both chemotherapy and rituximab and 740 (18.4%) patients received chemotherapy alone, while 1612 (40.1%) and 914 (22.8%) patients received no rituximab or chemotherapy, respectively. On multivariable analysis, low SES was associated with lesser use of chemotherapy (odd ratio [OR] 0.44; 95% CI 0.34–0.57) and rituximab (OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.32–0.52). The socioeconomic disparity for either treatment showed no secular trend of change. Additionally, patients with low SES showed increased excess mortality, with a hazard ratio of 2.34 (95% CI 1.67–3.28). Improving survival outcomes for patients with DLBCL requires provision of best available medical care and securing access to treatment regardless of patients' SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a predictive score system for 30-day mortality after palliative radiotherapy by using predictors from routine electronic medical record. Patients with metastatic cancer receiving first course palliative radiotherapy from 1 July, 2007 to 31 December, 2017 were identified. 30-day mortality odds ratios and probabilities of the death predictive score were obtained using multivariable logistic regression model. Overall, 5,795 patients participated. Median follow-up was 39.6 months (range, 24.5–69.3) for all surviving patients. 5,290 patients died over a median 110 days, of whom 995 (17.2%) died within 30 days of radiotherapy commencement. The most important mortality predictors were primary lung cancer (odds ratio: 1.73, 95% confidence interval: 1.47–2.04) and log peripheral blood neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (odds ratio: 1.71, 95% confidence interval: 1.52–1.92). The developed predictive scoring system had 10 predictor variables and 20 points. The cross-validated area under curve was 0.81 (95% confidence interval: 0.79–0.82). The calibration suggested a reasonably good fit for the model (likelihood-ratio statistic: 2.81, P = 0.094), providing an accurate prediction for almost all 30-day mortality probabilities. The predictive scoring system accurately predicted 30-day mortality among patients with stage IV cancer. Oncologists may use this to tailor palliative therapy for patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although smoking during pregnancy may lead to many adverse outcomes, numerous studies have reported a paradoxical inverse association between maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy and preeclampsia. Using a counterfactual framework we aimed to explore the structure of this paradox as being a consequence of selection bias. Using a case-control study nested in the Icelandic Birth Registry (1309 women), we show how this selection bias can be explored and corrected for. Cases were defined as any case of pregnancy induced hypertension or preeclampsia occurring after 20 weeks' gestation and controls as normotensive mothers who gave birth in the same year. First, we used directed acyclic graphs to illustrate the common bias structure. Second, we used classical logistic regression and mediation analytic methods for dichotomous outcomes to explore the structure of the bias. Lastly, we performed both deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analysis to estimate the amount of bias due to an uncontrolled confounder and corrected for it. The biased effect of smoking was estimated to reduce the odds of preeclampsia by 28 % (OR 0.72, 95 %CI 0.52, 0.99) and after stratification by gestational age at delivery (<37 vs. ≥37 gestation weeks) by 75 % (OR 0.25, 95 %CI 0.10, 0.68). In a mediation analysis, the natural indirect effect showed and OR > 1, revealing the structure of the paradox. The bias-adjusted estimation of the smoking effect on preeclampsia showed an OR of 1.22 (95 %CI 0.41, 6.53). The smoking-preeclampsia paradox appears to be an example of (1) selection bias most likely caused by studying cases prevalent at birth rather than all incident cases from conception in a pregnancy cohort, (2) omitting important confounders associated with both smoking and preeclampsia (preventing the outcome to develop) and (3) controlling for a collider (gestation weeks at delivery). Future studies need to consider these aspects when studying and interpreting the association between smoking and pregnancy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher placental weight relative to birthweight has been described as an adaptive mechanism to fetal hypoxia in small for gestational age (SGA) infants. However, placental weight alone may not be a good marker reflecting intrauterine growth restriction. We hypothesized that fetoplacental ratio (FPR)-the ratio between birthweight and placental weight-may serve as a good marker of SGA after adjustment for surrogates of fetal hypoxemia (maternal iron deficiency anemia, smoking and choriodecidual necrosis). We conducted a within-sibling analysis using data from the US National Collaborative Perinatal Project (1959-1966) of 1,803 women who delivered their first two (or more) consecutive infants at term (n = 3,494). We used variance-component fixed-effect linear regression models to explore the effect of observed time-varying factors on placental weight and conditional logistic regression to estimate the effects of the tertiles of FPRs (1st small, 2nd normal and 3rd large) on the odds of SGA infants. We found placental weights to be 15 g [95 % confidence interval (CI) 8, 23] higher and −7 g (95 % CI −13, −2) lower among women that had anemia and choriodecidual necrosis, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, newborns with a small FPR (1st-tertile ≤7) had twofold higher odds of being SGA (OR 2.0, 95 % CI 1.2, 3.5) than their siblings with a large FPR (3nd-tertile ≥9). A small FPR was associated with higher odds of SGA, suggesting that small FPR may serve as an indicator suggestive of adverse intrauterine environment. This observation may help to distinguish pathological from constitutional SGA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe stillbirth and unemployment rates by autonomous region in Spain and analyse whether women who gave birth in regions with high unemployment rates were more likely to have a stillborn. We designed a multilevel population-based observational study of births from 2007 to 2010. We defined stillbirth as the outcome, individual maternal socioeconomic and pregnancy-related characteristics as covariates, and maternal autonomous region of residence as the contextual covariate. We used mixed-logistic regression models to account for differences across regions. In total, 1,920,235 singleton births and 5,560 stillbirths were included in the study. Women residing in autonomous regions with the highest rates of unemployment had a two-times-greater chance of delivering a stillborn (adjusted OR 2.60; 95 % CI 2.08–3.21). The region where women resided explained 14 % of the total individual differences in the risk of delivering a stillborn. The odds of stillbirth were 1.82 (95 % CI 1.62–2.05) times higher for African-born women than for Spanish-born women and 1.90 (95 % CI 1.68–2.15) times higher for women with low educational attainment than for women with higher education. In conclusion, regional disparities in stillbirth rates in Spain in the period 2007–2010 were mainly associated with mothers who had low levels of education, were African-born, and lived in regions with higher unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]