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Background: Evidence about late effects in adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors is scarce. This study assessed the risk of subsequent malignant neoplasms (SMNs) to identify the most common SMNs to be considered in follow-up care. Methods: Population-based cancer registries retrospectively identified first primary tumors (between 1976 and 2013) and SMNs in AYAs (15-39years old at their cancer diagnosis). AYA cancer survivors were those alive at least 5years after their first cancer diagnosis. The excess risk of SMNs was measured as standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and absolute excess risk together with the cumulative incidence of SMNs. Results: The cohort included 67,692 AYA cancer survivors. The excess risk of developing any SMN (SIR, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-1.7) was 60%. The excess risk of SMNs was significantly high for survivors of lymphomas; cancers of the breast, thyroid, female genital tract, digestive organs, gonads, and urinary tract; and melanomas. The cumulative incidence of all SMNs in AYA cancer survivors within 25years of their first cancer diagnosis was approximately 10%. Subsequent tumors contributing to approximately 60% of all SMNs were breast cancer, colorectal cancer, corpus uteri cancer, and ovarian cancer in females and colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, and lymphomas in males. Conclusions: These results highlight the need to personalize follow-up strategies for AYA cancer survivors.

BACKGROUND: As a legacy of the large asbestos consumption until the definitive ban in 1992, Italy had to tackle a real epidemic of asbestos related diseases. The Italian National Registry of Malignant Mesotheliomas (ReNaM) is a permanent surveillance system of mesothelioma incidence, with a regional structure. Aims, assignments and territorial network of ReNaM are described, as well as data collection, recording and coding procedures. OBJECTIVES: To describe the Italian epidemiological surveillance system of mesothelioma incidence, to provide updated data about occurrence of malignant mesothelioma in Italy, and to discuss goals, attainments, and expectations of registering occupational cancer. DESIGN: Analysis of data by malignant mesothelioma incident cases surveillance system. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Italy, network of regional sur-veillance system, all Italian regions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A Regional Operating Centre (COR) is currently established in all the Italian regions, actively searching incident malignant mesothelioma cases from health care institutions. Occupational history, lifestyle habits, and residential history are obtained using a standardized questionnaire, administered to the subject or to the next of kin by a trained interviewer. The extent of dataset, epide-miological parameters, and occupations involved are reported updated at 31.12.2016, and standardized incidence rates are calculated. RESULTS: At December 2016, ReNaM has collected 27,356 malignant mesothelioma cases, referring to the period of incidence between 1993 and 2015. The modalities of exposure to asbestos have been investigated for 21,387 (78%) and an occupational exposure has been defined for around 70% of defined cases (14,818). CONCLUSIONS: The Italian experience shows that epidemiological systematic surveillance of asbestos related diseases incidence has a key importance for assessing and monitoring the public health impact of occupational and/or environmental hazards, programming preventive interventions, including remediation plans and information campaigns, and supporting the efficiency of insurance and welfare system. Monitor-ing the incidence of malignant mesothelioma through a specialized cancer registry is essential to follow-up the health effects of changing modalities and extent of occupational exposures over years and of environmental contamination. Such consolidated surveillance system is recommended also for occupational cancers with low aetiological fraction.

Purpose: Adolescent and young adult (AYA, 15-39 years) cancer survivors (alive at least 5 years after cancer diagnosis) are less studied than younger and older cancer survivors and research on their late effects is limited. To facilitate research on long-term outcomes of AYA cancer survivors, we established, in Italy, a population-based AYA cancer survivors' cohort. This article describes the study design and main characteristics of this cohort. Methods: The cohort derives from population-based cancer registries (CRs). Each CR identified AYA cancer patients retrospectively. Treatment for first primary cancer and all health events from diagnosis to death can be traced through linkage with available health databases, such as hospital discharge records (HDRs), mortality files, and outpatient and pharmaceutical databases. Results: Thirty-four CRs participated to the cohort which overall includes 93,291 AYAs with cancer and 67,692 cancer survivors. First primary cancer distribution in AYA cancer survivors differs by sex and age groups because of the different cancer types diagnosed in AYAs. Almost 78% of AYA cancer survivors have HDRs and 14.8% also pharmaceutical and outpatient databases. Conclusion: This cohort will be used to study, for the first time in Italy, the pattern and excess risk of late effects in AYA cancer survivors. HDRs, outpatient and pharmaceutical databases will be used to define primary treatment to assess its impact on AYA cancer survivors' late effects. This cohort exploiting data sources already available at CRs, minimize the data collection effort and it will contribute to assess the feasibility of using administrative database to study cancer survivors' late effects.

Finkelstein1 invited physicians and researchers interested in mesothelioma to investigate on past usage of talcum powders by affected people. In Italy, asbestos contamination in talc for industrial use has been documented,2 and, as he underlines tremolite contamination at low levels of cosmetic and pharmaceutical talc has been reported in USA by Blount3 and Gordon and colleagues.4 In the Italian National Mesothelioma Register (ReNaM), the analysis of intensive exposure to talc has been evaluated with respect to occupational and environmental history. The catalogue of possible asbestos exposure circumstances (a tool for the interviewers) reports the potential presence of industrial talcs in quarries or mines working activities, in leather tanning and in rubber industries. The use of intensive cosmetic talc for personal use is evaluated by means of a structured questionnaire,5 as reported in the ReNaM guidelines (see https://www.inail.it/cs/internet/docs/all-linee-guida-renam.pdf%3Fsection=attivita, p82, p98, in Italian). In our paper regarding gender differences in mesothelioma epidemiology,6 we have presented figures referring to 21 463 MM cases detected by ReNaM with a diagnosis between 1993 and 2012. Among female case list (6087 cases), 4374 cases (71.9%) have been interviewed for defining exposure. During the interview, 30 MM female cases referred an intensive use of talc in the context of occupational or life habits. For five of them, the regional centre has identified an exposure to asbestos due to intensive talc use, classifying such modality of exposure as ‘leisure activities’ (see ReNaM guidelines5). For the remaining 25 cases, an occupational exposure to asbestos in other working (or familiar or environmental) circumstances has been identified and coded. Registry data such as those provided by ReNaM cannot provide estimates of the mesothelioma risk associated with any particular exposure circumstance. We plan to include talc exposure at work and cosmetic talc usage in the analyses of a case–control study on pleural mesothelioma currently under way. A specific survey to compare and discuss how the modalities of exposure to talc have been evaluated in patients with mesothelioma in countries where epidemiological surveillance systems are active could improve knowledge and support prevention policies.

Objectives The epidemiology of extrapleural malignant mesothelioma is rarely discussed and the risk of misdiagnosis and the very low incidence complicate the picture. This study presents data on extrapleural malignant mesothelioma from the Italian National Mesothelioma Register (ReNaM). Methods ReNaM works on a regional basis, searching for cases and interviewing subjects to investigate asbestos exposure. Classification and code criteria for certainty of diagnosis and exposure modalities are set by national guidelines. Between 1993 and 2004, 681 cases were collected. Incidence measures and exposure data refer to the ReNaM database. Age-standardised rates were estimated by the direct method using the Italian resident population in 2001. Correlations between the incidence of pleural and non-pleural malignant mesothelioma for the 103 Italian provinces were analysed. Results Standardised incidence rates (Italy, 2004, per million inhabitants) were 2.1 and 1.2 cases for the peritoneal site (in men and women, respectively), 0.2 cases for the tunica vaginalis testis, and 0.1 in the pericardial site, varying widely in different parts of the country. Mean age at diagnosis for all extrapleural malignant mesothelioma cases was 64.4 years and the men/women ratio was 1.57:1. Median latency was over 40 years for all extrapleural sites combined. The correlation between pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma was 0.71 (Pearson’s r coefficient, p

A median survival time of about 9 months is generally reported among malignant pleural mesothelioma cases. Recently, better results in terms of survival and performance status have been reported in clinical trials that included highly selected patients. We describe the survival of pleural mesothelioma patients and the factors predictive of survival in an unselected, population-based setting. Pleural mesothelioma cases (4,100) registered from 1990 to 2001 by 9 Italian regional mesothelioma registries contributing to the network of the National Mesothelioma Registry were followed until December 31, 2005. Univariate (Kaplan-Meier) and multivariate (Cox proportional hazards regression) analyses of survival were carried out according to selected individual characteristics, including limited information on treatment in a subset of 578 cases. The median survival time was 9.8 months (95% confidence interval: 9.4-10.1). In multivariate analysis, younger age at diagnosis and epithelioid histotype were associated with significantly reduced hazard ratios. Positive effects of gender (women) and being diagnosed in a hospital with a thoracic surgery unit were of border-line statistical significance. No association with calendar period of diagnosis or asbestos exposure was present. Treatment was not associated with a statistically significant improvement in survival. This is the largest population-based study on survival in patients with pleural mesothelioma to date. Age and morphology were the main prognostic factors. Results regarding the effect of treatment were disappointing but may be useful to assess the future impact, at the population level, of recently introduced therapies.

In some population-based studies, a shorter median survival was observed in peritoneal as compared with pleural, malignant mesothelioma, but in others, longer median survival times or higher proportions of long-term survivors were reported. Statistical instability could have caused these differences. We analyzed survival in peritoneal mesothelioma in a large and unselected population-based case series. Cases (338) registered from 1990 to 2001 by 9 Italian regional mesothelioma registries contributing to the network of the National Mesothelioma Registry were followed until December 31, 2005. Univariate (Kaplan-Meier) and multivariate (Cox proportional hazards regression) analyses of survival were performed according to selected individual characteristics, including limited treatment information in a subset of 194 cases. The results were compared with those obtained in a parallel study on pleural mesothelioma cases. Epithelioid histotype, younger age at diagnosis and, to a lesser degree, gender (women), and being diagnosed in a hospital with a thoracic surgery unit positively and significantly affected survival. The effect of treatment was positive but not statistically significant. No trend in the risk of death according to calendar period of diagnosis was present. Peritoneal mesothelioma cases had shorter median survival time than pleural cases, but a larger proportion of long-term survivors. Survival patterns after peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma differed markedly. Treatment was not associated with a statistically significant improvement in survival, but our study included cases first diagnosed before the introduction of the most recent therapeutic approaches. This provides a large historical comparison for future studies on survival trends at the population level.

Due to its adaptability to different uses, asbestos was increasingly employed in many working and domestic areas up to the 1970s-1980s, when its aetiological role in the onset of pleural mesothelioma (Mm) was recognized. Since then Mm cases have been continuously increasing and no decline is expected until 2020, despite the fact that most industrialized countries banned asbestos use a few decades ago.The aim of this study was to analyse Mm incidence in the World during the last ten years, also considering asbestos consumption in diferent areas.Incidence age-standardized rates (ASR) from Cancer Registries included in Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Vol. VII and VIII, and, when appropriate, standardized rate ratio (SRR) with confidence interval were estimated.The highest incidence rates among males were observed in Liguria and Australia. After Liguria, Maastricht and Scotland in Europe, North East Regions and Piedmont in Italy showed high rates. Among females, the highest incidence rates were observed in Liguria, among black women in New Orleans and in the province of Varese. SRRs revealed increased rates, not always significant, in almost all areas among males and in about 50% of the areas among females, although the variation was significant only in Varese.These results confirmed a relationship between Mm risk and asbestos use, revealing high incidence rates in Australia (mining), Italy (shipyards, building, goods handling, heavy industries and sea trade) and Great Britain (shipyards). Mm cases increased in areas with elevated incidence rates, suggesting that larger amounts of asbestos were probably used for a longer period. Finally, no Mm cases were registered in some areas, which probably signifies a lack (or a delay) of risk referred to the investigated period.