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Background:Month of birth influences the risk of developing several diseases. We investigated the influence of date of birth on melanoma skin cancer (MSC) and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) incidence.Methods:Enhanced cancer registry data were analysed including 1751 MSC and 15 200 NMSC.Results:People born in February to April showed significantly elevated risks of NMSC compared with those born in summertime.Conclusions:We demonstrated seasonality by date of birth for skin cancer incidence. Neonatal UV exposure may explain this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A record-linkage study was carried out between the Italian AIDS Registry and 24 Italian cancer registries to compare cancer excess among persons with HIV/AIDS (PWHA) before and after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996. Standardised incidence ratios (SIR) were computed in 21951 AIDS cases aged 16-69 years reported between 1986 and 2005. Of 101 669 person-years available, 45 026 were after 1996. SIR for Kaposi sarcoma (KS) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma greatly decreased in 1997-2004 compared with 1986-1996, but high SIRs for KS persisted in the increasingly large fraction of PWHA who had an interval of <1 year between first HIV-positive test and AIDS diagnosis. A significant excess of liver cancer (SIR=6.4) emerged in 1997-2004, whereas the SIRs for cancer of the cervix (41.5), anus (44.0), lung (4.1), brain (3.2), skin (non-melanoma, 1.8), Hodgkin lymphoma (20.7), myeloma (3.9), and non-AIDS-defining cancers (2.2) were similarly elevated in the two periods. The excess of some potentially preventable cancers in PWHA suggests that HAART use must be accompanied by cancer-prevention strategies, notably antismoking and cervical cancer screening programmes. Improvements in the timely identification of HIV-positive individuals are also a priority in Italy to avoid the adverse consequences of delayed HAART use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate incidence rates (IRs) of classic Kaposi's sarcoma (CKS) in Italy after the spread of AIDS, we distinguished CKS from AIDS-related KS (AKS) using an 'ad hoc' record linkage procedure between 15 Cancer Registries (CRs) (21% of the Italian population) and the national AIDS Registry. Between 1985 and 1998, 874 cases of CKS and 634 cases of AKS were diagnosed in the study areas. CKS accounted for 16 and 27% of KS cases below 55 years of age in men and women, respectively, but for 91 and 100% of those above age 55. The IRs for CKS were 1.0/ in men and 0.4/100,000 in women, but they varied between 0.3 in Umbria and 4.7 in Sassari in men, and between 0.1 in Parma and 1.7 in Sassari in women. IRs of CKS in both genders were stable between 1985-1987 and 1993-1998. In Northern and Central CRs the IR (adjusted for age and gender) for CKS was 0.5 in individuals born in the same area, but 1.6 in individuals born in Southern Italy or in the Islands (rate ratio = 3.2) suggesting that KS-associated herpesvirus, the cause of KS, is acquired early in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to make a study of the whole population of a central Italian region, the Umbria region – cancer survival rates for the upper aerodigestive tract, which includes cancers of the head and neck (tongue, oral cavity, pharynx), oesophagus and larynx. In Italy cancer survival rates do not cover entire regions but single municipalities or provinces. Cases of incidence were derived from an ‘ad hoc’ survey carried out during the period 1978–1982. Starting from the nominative data, we studied up to 15 years 245 head and neck, 87 oesophagus and 321 larynx cases of cancer in males. Data for female cases were not considered because of the small number. Cancer cases were followed up mainly by verification at the Registry Office of several municipalities, the Regional Death Registry and the list of persons under the Regional Health Service. Observed survival rates for head and neck cancer were 0.63, 0.29, 0.17 and 0.12 at 1, 5, 10 and 15 years of follow-up respectively; rates for cancers of the oesophagus and larynx were 0.30, 0.08, 0.06, 0.03 and 0.79, 0.54, 0.41, 0.30 respectively. Relative survival rates were 0.65, 0.34, 0.24, 0.23 for cancer of the head and neck, 0.31, 0.10, 0.09, 0.08 for cancer of the oesophagus, and 0.81, 0.63, 0.59, 0.56 for cancer of the larynx, at 1, 5, 10 and 15 years of follow-up. The worst survival rates were observed for oesophagus and hypopharynx. Overall survival values for Umbrian patients were relatively good, being higher than survival data reported for a similar period by Italian Cancer Registries. They were also strikingly similar to survival rates for England and Scotland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]