Hospitalizations in Pediatric and Adult Patients for All Cancer Type in Italy: The EPIKIT Study under the EU COHEIRS Project on Environment and Health

The EPIKIT (Epidemiology of Cancer in Italy) Study Group is a result of the COHEIRS project (Civic Observers for Health and Environment: Initiative of Responsibility and Sustainibility), funded by the Europe for Citizens Program 2013–2014 to address the issue of Precautionary Principle applicatio

Incidence of breast cancer in Italy: mastectomies and quadrantectomies performed between 2000 and 2005.

Objectives. We aimed to determine the incidence of women's breast cancer in Italy without using statistical approximations. Methods. We analyzed the national hospitalizations database at the Ministry of Health to calculate the number of major surgeries in Italian women (mastectomies and quadrantectomies) due to breast cancer between 2000 and 2005, overall and by age groups (<44, 4564, 6574 and 75 years old). Results. Over the six years examined, an overall number of 100,745 mastectomies and 168,147 quadrantectomies were performed. A total of 41,608 major surgeries due to breast cancer were performed in the year 2000 and this number rose to 47,200 in 2005, with a 13.4% increase over six years. Conclusion. by analyzing the hospitalizations database concerning major breast surgery, incidence of breast cancer in Italy was found to be 26.5% higher than the official estimations which have been computed using statistical models (namely 47,200 vs. 37,300 cases in year 2005)

SPIRITUALITÀ E COPING RELIGIOSO: DIMENSIONI POSITIVE NELLA MALATTIA ONCOLOGICA

Introduzione: recenti studi in oncologia indicano che i pazienti contano sulle proprie credenze spirituali e religiose per attribuire un significato all’esperienza della malattia e alla sopravvivenza, traendone benessere emotivo (Vachon, 2008). Obiettivi: presentare lo studio preliminare di validazione italiana di alcuni brevi strumenti di misura del senso di religiosità e spiritualità e l’associazione tra queste dimensioni e l’adattamento alla malattia in pazienti oncologici. Metodo: 68 pazienti ocologici (30M; 38F, età media 55,7 anni) hanno compilato: System of Beliefs Inventory (Holland et al., 1998), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Wellbeing (Peterman et al., 2002), Reliance on God’s Help (Büssing et al., 2007) oltre a Cancer Adjustment Scale, Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale. Risultati: i 3 questionari sulla spiritualità/religiosità considerati mostrano buone caratteristiche psicometriche (alpha: 0,93; 0,95; 0,76). Fra questi, FACIT-Sp (in particolare le sottoscale di attribuzione di significato alla malattia e di senso di pace derivante dalla fede religiosa) è predittivo delle varie dimensioni dell’adattamento al cancro (R2compreso tra 0,16 e 0,38, p&lt;0,001). Conclusione: il contributo permette di identificare specifici aspetti della religiosità che svolgono un ruolo di risorse positive nell’adattamento al cancro, indicando anche gli strumenti di misura più attendibili da impiegare in quest’ambito di studio. Bibliografia Büssing A et al. (2007). Adaptive coping and spirituality as a resource in cancer patients. Breast Care, 2:195-202. Holland JC et al. (1998). A Brief Spiritual Beliefs Inventory for use in quality of life research in life threatening illness. Psycho-Oncol, 7:460-9. Peterman AH et al. (2002). Measuring spiritual well-being in people with cancer: the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp). Ann Behav Med, 21:49-58. Vachon ML (2008). Meaning, spirituality, and wellness in cancer survivors. Sem Oncol Nurs, 24(3):218-25

Correlation between variation in quality of life and change in hemoglobin level after treatment with epoetin alfa 40,000 IU administered once-weekly

INTRODUCTION: Anemia is frequently associated with cancer due to the disease itself and antineoplastic treatments. This open-label, uncontrolled, multi-center study evaluated the effects of once-weekly (qw) epoetin alfa 40,000 IU on hemoglobin (Hb) levels and quality of life (QoL) in anemic patients receiving chemotherapy for solid tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 522 patients with Hb level < or =12 g/dL received epoetin alfa 40,000 IU qw subcutaneously for 9-20 weeks to reach and maintain Hb range of 12-14 g/dL. QoL was assessed with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Anemia (FACT-An [anemia sub-scale]) and Cancer Linear Analogue Scale (CLAS) at study entry, after two chemotherapy cycles, and at study end. RESULTS: Mean baseline Hb was 10.43 g/dL. Hb increases (g/dL) from baseline after 4, 8, 12 weeks and at study end were 1.07, 1.77, 1.92 and 1.71 g/dL, respectively. Response rates (Hb increase > or =1 and > or =2 g/dL during trial) were 81% and 61%, respectively. Mean increases in the FACT-An score from baseline (mean 55.4) were 3.1 after two chemotherapy cycles and 3.3 at study end; mean increases in the CLAS score from baseline (58.4 mm) were 5.9 mm after two chemotherapy cycles and 6.5 mm at study end. DISCUSSION: The greatest QoL increase was recorded when patients approached Hb level of 12 g/dL, independent of the baseline Hb level. Hb changes from baseline to trial end were related to corresponding changes in the FACT-An score. A positive correlation was also observed in patients with progressive disease. Adverse events were essentially those associated with chemotherapy. Incidence of thrombovascular events (6.7%) did not differ from the expected standard treatment in cancer patients. Epoetin alfa 40,000 IU qw increased Hb levels and improved or preserved QoL