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Background: Accelerated reproductive aging, in women indicated by early natural menopause, is associated with increased coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in observational studies. Conversely, an adverse CHD risk profile has been suggested to accelerate menopause. Objectives: To study the direction and evidence for causality of the relationship between reproductive aging and (non-)fatal CHD and CHD risk factors in a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, using age at natural menopause (ANM) genetic variants as a measure for genetically determined reproductive aging in women. We also studied the association of these variants with CHD risk (factors) in men. Design: Two-sample MR, using both cohort data as well as summary statistics, with 4 methods: simple and weighted median-based, standard inverse-variance weighted (IVW) regression, and MR-Egger regression. Participants: Data from EPIC-CVD and summary statistics from UK Biobank and publicly available genome-wide association studies were pooled for the different analyses. Main Outcome Measures: CHD, CHD risk factors, and ANM. Results: Across different methods of MR, no association was found between genetically determined reproductive aging and CHD risk in women (relative risk estimateIVW = 0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.97-1.01), or any of the CHD risk factors. Similarly, no associations were found in men. Neither did the reversed analyses show evidence for an association between CHD (risk factors) and reproductive aging. Conclusion: Genetically determined reproductive aging is not causally associated with CHD risk (factors) in women, nor were the genetic variants associated in men. We found no evidence for a reverse association in a combined sample of women and men.

Additional file 1: Circulating inflammatory biomarkers and breast cancer risk in the EPIC prospective study: Supplementary Tables S1- S7 and Figures S1-S3. Table S1. Geometric mean values for inflammatory biomarkers in breast cancer cases and matched controls. Table S2. Associations between inflammatory biomarkers and breast cancer risk by age at diagnosis. Table S3. Associations between inflammatory biomarkers and breast cancer risk by breast cancer molecular subtypes. Table S4. Associations between inflammatory biomarkers and breast cancer risk by time between blood collection and diagnosis. Table S5. Associations between inflammatory biomarkers and breast cancer risk by body mass index. Table S6. Associations between inflammatory biomarkers and breast cancer risk by waist circumference. Table S7. Associations between inflammatory biomarkers and breast cancer risk among non-hormone users at blood collection. Table S8. Associations between IL-10 and breast cancer risk overall and according to menopausal status at blood collection, after excluding women with values of IL-10 below the LOQ. Table S9. Associations between TNF-α and breast cancer risk overall and according to menopausal status at blood collection, after excluding women with values of TNF-α below the LOQ. Figure S1. Flow chart of the study population. Figure S2. Association between leptin and breast cancer risk, overall and by menopausal status, allowing for nonlinear effects (restricted cubic spline). Figure S3. Association between leptin-to-adiponectin ratio and breast cancer risk, overall and by menopausal status, allowing for nonlinear effects (restricted cubic spline). Figure S4. Association between CRP with breast cancer risk, overall and by menopausal status, allowing for nonlinear effects (restricted cubic spline).

The coordination of EPIC is financially supported by the European Commission (DG-SANCO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The national cohorts are supported by the Danish Cancer Society (Kræftens Bekæmpelse) (Denmark), German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe), German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium fu¨ r Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) (Germany), Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy and National Research Council (Italy), Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden), Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsra° det), County Councils of Ska°ne and Va¨sterbotten (Sweden), Cancer Research UK (14136 to EPIC-Norfolk; C570/ A16491 and C8221/A19170 to EPIC-Oxford), Medical Research Council (1000143 to EPIC-Norfolk; MR/M012190/1 to EPICOxford) (UK). Infrastructure support for the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Imperial College London (UK) was provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; or the preparation, review and approval of the manuscript; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication., Background: The role of obesity and weight change in breast-cancer development is complex and incompletely understood. We investigated long-term weight change and breast-cancer risk by body mass index (BMI) at age 20 years, menopausal status, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and hormone-receptor status. Methods: Using data on weight collected at three different time points from women who participated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, we investigated the association between weight change from age 20 years until middle adulthood and risk of breast cancer. Results: In total, 150 257 women with a median age of 51 years at cohort entry were followed for an average of 14 years (standard deviation¼3.9) during which 6532 breast-cancer cases occurred. Compared with women with stable weight (62.5 kg), long-term weight gain >10 kg was positively associated with postmenopausal breast-cancer risk in women who were lean at age 20 [hazard ratio (HR)¼1.42; 95% confidence interval 1.22–1.65] in ever HRT users (HR¼1.23; 1.04–1.44), in never HRT users (HR¼1.40; 1.16–1.68) and in oestrogen-and-progesterone-receptor-positive (ERþPRþ) breast cancer (HR¼1.46; 1.15–1.85). Conclusion: Long-term weight gain was positively associated with postmenopausal breast cancer in women who were lean at age 20, both in HRT ever users and non-users, and hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer., European Commission (DG-SANCO), International Agency for Research on Cancer, Danish Cancer Society (Kraftens Bekampelse), German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro-AIRC-Italy and National Research Council, Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Research Council, County Councils of Skane and Vasterbotten, 14136 Cancer Research UK, C570/A16491 EPIC-Norfolk, 1000143 Medical Research Council, Infrastructure support for the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Imperial College London (UK) was provided by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)

Epidemiologic studies have reported that moderate alcohol consumption is inversely associated with the risk of renal cancer. However, there is no information available on the associations in renal cancer subsites. From 1992 through to 2010, 477,325 men and women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort were followed for incident renal cancers (n=931). Baseline and lifetime alcohol consumption was assessed by country-specific, validated dietary questionnaires. Information on past alcohol consumption was collected by lifestyle questionnaires. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated from Cox proportional hazard models. In multivariate analysis, total alcohol consumption at baseline was inversely associated with renal cancer; the HR and 95% CI for the increasing categories of total alcohol consumption at recruitment versus the light drinkers category were 0.78 (0.62-0.99), 0.82 (0.64-1.04), 0.70 (0.55-0.90), 0.91 (0.63-1.30), respectively, (p(trend)=0.001). A similar relationship was observed for average lifetime alcohol consumption and for all renal cancer subsites combined or for renal parenchyma subsite. The trend was not observed in hypertensive individuals and not significant in smokers. In conclusion, moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a decreased risk of renal cancer. What’s new? Previous studies have indicated that environmental or lifestyle factors may be involved in the etiology of renal cancer, and that moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of this type of cancer. In this very large European study (nearly 500,000 subjects), the authors found that, indeed, total alcohol consumption was inversely associated with renal cancer overall (for all subsites combined), and also with cancers of the renal parenchyma.

BACKGROUND:Even though in situ breast cancer (BCIS) accounts for a large proportion of the breast cancers diagnosed, few studies have investigated potential risk factors for BCIS. Their results suggest that some established risk factors for invasive breast cancer have a similar impact on BCIS risk, but large population-based studies on lifestyle factors and BCIS risk are lacking. Thus, we investigated the association between lifestyle and BCIS risk within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. METHODS:Lifestyle was operationalized by a score reflecting the adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) cancer prevention recommendations. The recommendations utilized in these analyses were the ones pertinent to healthy body weight, physical activity, consumption of plant-based foods, energy-dense foods, red and processed meat, and sugary drinks and alcohol, as well as the recommendation on breastfeeding. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the association between lifestyle score and BCIS risk. The results were presented as hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS:After an overall median follow-up time of 14.9 years, 1277 BCIS cases were diagnosed. Greater adherence to the WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations was not associated with BCIS risk (HR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.93-1.03; per one unit of increase; multivariable model). An inverse association between the lifestyle score and BCIS risk was observed in study centers, where participants were recruited mainly via mammographic screening and attended additional screening throughout follow-up (HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.73-0.99), but not in the remaining ones (HR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.94-1.05). CONCLUSIONS:While we did not observe an overall association between lifestyle and BCIS risk, our results indicate that lifestyle is associated with BCIS risk among women recruited via screening programs and with regular screening participation. This suggests that a true inverse association between lifestyle habits and BCIS risk in the overall cohort may have been masked by a lack of information on screening attendance. The potential inverse association between lifestyle and BCIS risk in our analyses is consistent with the inverse associations between lifestyle scores and breast cancer risk reported from previous studies.

Background There is controversy about associations between total dietary fatty acids, their classes (saturated fatty acids [SFAs], monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids), and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Specifically, the relevance of food sources of SFAs to CHD associations is uncertain. Methods and Results We conducted a case-cohort study involving 10 529 incident CHD cases and a random subcohort of 16 730 adults selected from a cohort of 385 747 participants in 9 countries of the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) study. We estimated multivariable adjusted country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs per 5% of energy intake from dietary fatty acids, with and without isocaloric macronutrient substitutions, using Prentice-weighted Cox regression models and pooled results using random-effects meta-analysis. We found no evidence for associations of the consumption of total or fatty acid classes with CHD, regardless of macronutrient substitutions. In analyses considering food sources, CHD incidence was lower per 1% higher energy intake of SFAs from yogurt (HR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.88-0.99]), cheese (HR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.96-1.00]), and fish (HR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.75-1.00]), but higher for SFAs from red meat (HR, 1.07 [95% CI, 1.02-1.12]) and butter (HR, 1.02 [95% CI, 1.00-1.04]). Conclusions This observational study found no strong associations of total fatty acids, SFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with incident CHD. By contrast, we found associations of SFAs with CHD in opposite directions dependent on the food source. These findings should be further confirmed, but support public health recommendations to consider food sources alongside the macronutrients they contain, and suggest the importance of the overall food matrix.

Background: Although lifestyle factors have been studied in relation to individual non-communicable diseases (NCDs), their association with development of a subsequent NCD, defined as multimorbidity, has been scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between five lifestyle factors and incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 291,778 participants (64% women) from seven European countries, mostly aged 43 to 58 years and free of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D) at recruitment, were included. Incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases was defined as developing subsequently two diseases including first cancer at any site, CVD, and T2D in an individual. Multi-state modelling based on Cox regression was used to compute hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of developing cancer, CVD, or T2D, and subsequent transitions to multimorbidity, in relation to body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and their combination as a healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score. Cumulative incidence functions (CIFs) were estimated to compute 10-year absolute risks for transitions from healthy to cancer at any site, CVD (both fatal and non-fatal), or T2D, and to subsequent multimorbidity after each of the three NCDs. Results: During a median follow-up of 11 years, 1910 men and 1334 women developed multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. A higher HLI, reflecting healthy lifestyles, was strongly inversely associated with multimorbidity, with hazard ratios per 3-unit increment of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.81), 0.84 (0.79 to 0.90), and 0.82 (0.77 to 0.88) after cancer, CVD, and T2D, respectively. After T2D, the 10-year absolute risks of multimorbidity were 40% and 25% for men and women, respectively, with unhealthy lifestyle, and 30% and 18% for men and women with healthy lifestyles. Conclusion: Pre-diagnostic healthy lifestyle behaviours were strongly inversely associated with the risk of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases, and with the prognosis of these diseases by reducing risk of multimorbidity.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Provides the participant flow chart. Figure S2. Transitions to specific cancer and cardio-metabolic multimorbidity patterns. Figure S3. Results of subgroup analyses. Figure S4. CIFs for men and women of 55 years of age. Figure S5. Results of sensitivity analyses. Figure S6. Results for simplified HLI. Figure S7. CIFs for men and women of 55 years of age using the simplified HLI. and Figure S8. CIFs for men and women of 55 years of age for two groups of cancers. Table S1. Scoring of the healthy lifestyle index (HLI) and its simplified version.

BACKGROUND: Even though in situ breast cancer (BCIS) accounts for a large proportion of the breast cancers diagnosed, few studies have investigated potential risk factors for BCIS. Their results suggest that some established risk factors for invasive breast cancer have a similar impact on BCIS risk, but large population-based studies on lifestyle factors and BCIS risk are lacking. Thus, we investigated the association between lifestyle and BCIS risk within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. METHODS: Lifestyle was operationalized by a score reflecting the adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) cancer prevention recommendations. The recommendations utilized in these analyses were the ones pertinent to healthy body weight, physical activity, consumption of plant-based foods, energy-dense foods, red and processed meat, and sugary drinks and alcohol, as well as the recommendation on breastfeeding. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the association between lifestyle score and BCIS risk. The results were presented as hazard ratios (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: After an overall median follow-up time of 14.9 years, 1277 BCIS cases were diagnosed. Greater adherence to the WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations was not associated with BCIS risk (HR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.93-1.03; per one unit of increase; multivariable model). An inverse association between the lifestyle score and BCIS risk was observed in study centers, where participants were recruited mainly via mammographic screening and attended additional screening throughout follow-up (HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.73-0.99), but not in the remaining ones (HR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.94-1.05). CONCLUSIONS: While we did not observe an overall association between lifestyle and BCIS risk, our results indicate that lifestyle is associated with BCIS risk among women recruited via screening programs and with regular screening participation. This suggests that a true inverse association between lifestyle habits and BCIS risk in the overall cohort may have been masked by a lack of information on screening attendance. The potential inverse association between lifestyle and BCIS risk in our analyses is consistent with the inverse associations between lifestyle scores and breast cancer risk reported from previous studies.

Background: Although lifestyle factors have been studied in relation to individual non-communicable diseases (NCDs), their association with development of a subsequent NCD, defined as multimorbidity, has been scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between five lifestyle factors and incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 291,778 participants (64% women) from seven European countries, mostly aged 43 to 58 years and free of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D) at recruitment, were included. Incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases was defined as developing subsequently two diseases including first cancer at any site, CVD, and T2D in an individual. Multi-state modelling based on Cox regression was used to compute hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of developing cancer, CVD, or T2D, and subsequent transitions to multimorbidity, in relation to body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and their combination as a healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score. Cumulative incidence functions (CIFs) were estimated to compute 10-year absolute risks for transitions from healthy to cancer at any site, CVD (both fatal and non-fatal), or T2D, and to subsequent multimorbidity after each of the three NCDs. Results: During a median follow-up of 11 years, 1910 men and 1334 women developed multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. A higher HLI, reflecting healthy lifestyles, was strongly inversely associated with multimorbidity, with hazard ratios per 3-unit increment of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.81), 0.84 (0.79 to 0.90), and 0.82 (0.77 to 0.88) after cancer, CVD, and T2D, respectively. After T2D, the 10-year absolute risks of multimorbidity were 40% and 25% for men and women, respectively, with unhealthy lifestyle, and 30% and 18% for men and women with healthy lifestyles. Conclusion: Pre-diagnostic healthy lifestyle behaviours were strongly inversely associated with the risk of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases, and with the prognosis of these diseases by reducing risk of multimorbidity.

Additional file 1: This file contains Table S1. The World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) cancer prevention recommendations and the operationalization of the WCRF/AICR lifestyle score in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort; Table S2. The proportion of primary in situ breast cancer cases over the total primary breast cancer cases diagnosed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort; Table S3. The association between the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research lifestyle score and the risk for the most common morphological subtypes of BCIS (in the total study population and according to recruitment mode) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort; Table S4. The associations between the individual components of the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research lifestyle score and in situ breast cancer risk by menopausal status and menopausal hormone use assessed in the total study population.

BACKGROUND:Although lifestyle factors have been studied in relation to individual non-communicable diseases (NCDs), their association with development of a subsequent NCD, defined as multimorbidity, has been scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between five lifestyle factors and incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. METHODS:In this prospective cohort study, 291,778 participants (64% women) from seven European countries, mostly aged 43 to 58 years and free of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D) at recruitment, were included. Incident multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases was defined as developing subsequently two diseases including first cancer at any site, CVD, and T2D in an individual. Multi-state modelling based on Cox regression was used to compute hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of developing cancer, CVD, or T2D, and subsequent transitions to multimorbidity, in relation to body mass index (BMI), smoking status, alcohol intake, physical activity, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, and their combination as a healthy lifestyle index (HLI) score. Cumulative incidence functions (CIFs) were estimated to compute 10-year absolute risks for transitions from healthy to cancer at any site, CVD (both fatal and non-fatal), or T2D, and to subsequent multimorbidity after each of the three NCDs. RESULTS:During a median follow-up of 11 years, 1910 men and 1334 women developed multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases. A higher HLI, reflecting healthy lifestyles, was strongly inversely associated with multimorbidity, with hazard ratios per 3-unit increment of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.71 to 0.81), 0.84 (0.79 to 0.90), and 0.82 (0.77 to 0.88) after cancer, CVD, and T2D, respectively. After T2D, the 10-year absolute risks of multimorbidity were 40% and 25% for men and women, respectively, with unhealthy lifestyle, and 30% and 18% for men and women with healthy lifestyles. CONCLUSION:Pre-diagnostic healthy lifestyle behaviours were strongly inversely associated with the risk of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases, and with the prognosis of these diseases by reducing risk of multimorbidity.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Provides the participant flow chart. Figure S2. Transitions to specific cancer and cardio-metabolic multimorbidity patterns. Figure S3. Results of subgroup analyses. Figure S4. CIFs for men and women of 55 years of age. Figure S5. Results of sensitivity analyses. Figure S6. Results for simplified HLI. Figure S7. CIFs for men and women of 55 years of age using the simplified HLI. and Figure S8. CIFs for men and women of 55 years of age for two groups of cancers. Table S1. Scoring of the healthy lifestyle index (HLI) and its simplified version.