In situ breast cancer incidence patterns in Iceland and differences in ductal carcinoma in situ treatment compared to Sweden

Funding We thank the Icelandic Cancer Society, the Icelandic Oncologists Research fund and Göngum Saman, a nonprofit organization, for financial support. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s).The purpose was to review the incidence of in situ carcinoma in Iceland after initiating population-based mammography screening in 1987 and to compare management of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) between Iceland and the Uppsala–Örebro region (UÖR) in Central Sweden. The Icelandic Cancer Registry provided data on in situ breast carcinomas for women between 1957 and 2017. Clinical data for women with DCIS between 2008 and 2014 was extracted from hospital records and compared to women diagnosed in UÖR. In Iceland, in situ carcinoma incidence increased from 7 to 30 per 100 000 women per year, following the introduction of organised mammography screening. The proportion of in situ carcinoma of all breast carcinomas increased from 4 to 12%. More than one third (35%) of women diagnosed with DCIS in Iceland were older than 70 years versus 18% in UÖR. In Iceland, 49% of all DCIS women underwent mastectomy compared to 40% in UÖR. The incidence of in situ carcinoma in Iceland increased four-fold after the uptake of population-based mammography screening causing considerable risk of overtreatment. Differences in treatment of DCIS were seen between Iceland and UÖR, revealing the importance of quality registration for monitoring patterns of management.Peer reviewe

Impairments in hearing and vision impact on mortality in older people: the AGES-Reykjavik Study.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access.to examine the relationships between impairments in hearing and vision and mortality from all-causes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among older people.population-based cohort study.the study population included 4,926 Icelandic individuals, aged ≥67 years, 43.4% male, who completed vision and hearing examinations between 2002 and 2006 in the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study (AGES-RS) and were followed prospectively for mortality through 2009.participants were classified as having 'moderate or greater' degree of impairment for vision only (VI), hearing only (HI), and both vision and hearing (dual sensory impairment, DSI). Cox proportional hazard regression, with age as the time scale, was used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) associated with impairment and mortality due to all-causes and specifically CVD after a median follow-up of 5.3 years.the prevalence of HI, VI and DSI were 25.4, 9.2 and 7.0%, respectively. After adjusting for age, significantly (P < 0.01) increased mortality from all causes, and CVD was observed for HI and DSI, especially among men. After further adjustment for established mortality risk factors, people with HI remained at higher risk for CVD mortality [HR: 1.70 (1.27-2.27)], whereas people with DSI remained at higher risk of all-cause mortality [HR: 1.43 (1.11-1.85)] and CVD mortality [HR: 1.78 (1.18-2.69)]. Mortality rates were significantly higher in men with HI and DSI and were elevated, although not significantly, among women with HI.older men with HI or DSI had a greater risk of dying from any cause and particularly cardiovascular causes within a median 5-year follow-up. Women with hearing impairment had a non-significantly elevated risk. Vision impairment alone was not associated with increased mortality.National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging (NIA) N01-AG-12100 NIA Z01-AG007380 National Eye Institute (NEI) ZIAEY000401 National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Division of Scientific Programs/IAA Y2-DC-1004-02 Hjartavernd (Icelandic Heart Association) Althingi (Icelandic Parliament

The use of digital photographs for the diagnosis of hand osteoarthritis: the AGES-Reykjavik study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective of the study was to standardize a method using digital photographs to diagnose and grade hand osteoarthritis (HOA), to compare it with radiographs and clinical examination with regard to prevalence and relation to symptoms, and finally to construct a simple shortened version suitable for use in very large studies, where a global estimate may be preferable.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>High quality photographs with standard distance and hand positioning were analysed for the presence of HOA and subsequently compared with standard radiographs and clinical examination in 381 random participants in the AGES-Reykjavik Study, a large population study. The mean age of the participants was 76 years.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using the photographic method, the most commonly affected joints were the second DIP joints followed by the third DIP joints and second and third PIP joints. Both interobserver (ICC = 0.83) and intraobserver reading agreements (ICC = 0.89) were acceptable. On comparison with radiography and clinical examination, aggregate scores were significantly correlated (R_s0.35-0.69), more so in females (R_s0.53-0.72) than males. Hand pain in males showed very little association with HOA findings by the three methods but all methods showed a comparable moderate association with hand pain in females. The performance of photography in predicting pain on most days for at least a month in females was comparable to that of radiography and clinical examination (AUC 0.63 <it>p </it>= 0.004). Analysis of intermittent pain yielded similar results for in the DIP and PIP joints (OR 3.2-3.3, <it>p </it>< 0.01), but for the CMC1 joints, both radiography (OR 9.0, <it>p </it>< 0.0001), and clinical examination (OR 9.8, <it>p </it>< 0.0001), had higher predictive odds ratios for pain than photography (OR 3.6, <it>p </it>< 0.0001)., A shortened, rapidly performed form of reading photographs also showed a high degree of correlation with the other methods (R_s0.56-0.82).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>High quality hand photographs can be used to diagnose and grade hand osteoarthritis. The method has the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to perform. By using a slightly simplified method of reading, it appears to be highly suitable for use in large studies.</p

World-wide distributions of lactase persistence alleles and the complex effects of recombination and selection

The genetic trait of lactase persistence (LP) is associated with at least five independent functional single nucleotide variants in a regulatory region about 14 kb upstream of the lactase gene [-13910*T (rs4988235), -13907*G (rs41525747), -13915*G (rs41380347), -14009*G (rs869051967) and -14010*C (rs145946881)]. These alleles have been inferred to have spread recently and present-day frequencies have been attributed to positive selection for the ability of adult humans to digest lactose without risk of symptoms of lactose intolerance. One of the inferential approaches used to estimate the level of past selection has been to determine the extent of haplotype homozygosity (EHH) of the sequence surrounding the SNP of interest. We report here new data on the frequencies of the known LP alleles in the 'Old World' and their haplotype lineages. We examine and confirm EHH of each of the LP alleles in relation to their distinct lineages, but also show marked EHH for one of the older haplotypes that does not carry any of the five LP alleles. The region of EHH of this (B) haplotype exactly coincides with a region of suppressed recombination that is detectable in families as well as in population data, and the results show how such suppression may have exaggerated haplotype-based measures of past selection

Hepatotoxicity associated with ribociclib among breast cancer patients.

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Dili is rare amongst patients without liver metastases receiving cancer treatment in Iceland: a population-based cohort study.

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink belowBackground: There is limited information on the frequency of idiosyncratic drug-liver injury (DILI) among cancer patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency of DILI due to cancer treatment in a population-based setting. Material and methods: All patients diagnosed with genitourinary cancer, breast cancer or metastatic malignant melanoma in 2007-2018 were matched with a database containing laboratory results for all major hospitals in Iceland. Medical chart review was performed for cases with ALT/AST ≥5× upper limit of normal (ULN), ALP ≥2× ULN or bilirubin ≥2× ULN. Patients with liver-, and/or bone metastases and isolated elevations of ALP and patients with other etiologies of liver enzyme elevations were excluded. Cases with a RUCAM score of probable or highly probable were included. Results: Among 4956 patients, 840 patients had liver enzyme elevations. Overall, nine (0.2%) cases of DILI were identified, seven women (78%), median age 59 years (IQR 52-66). Four patients had kidney cancer, four breast cancer and one metastatic prostate cancer. In eight cases, a single agent was implicated: Pazopanib (n = 3), axitinib, docetaxel, gemcitabine, letrozole and paclitaxel. In all cases, the treatment was interrupted or discontinued due to the liver injury. No patient developed jaundice or liver failure and no death was linked to DILI. Time to normalization of liver enzymes was 17 days (IQR 25-120). Conclusion: DILI was found to be rare and no cases of severe liver injury occurred. However, approximately 90% of patients switched to another treatment which might have affected prognosis. Keywords: DILI; RUCAM; hepatotoxicity; liver enzymes; malignancy.Landspitali University Hospita

The Impact of Fractures on Survival in Multiple Myeloma: Results from a Population-Based Study

Abstract Introduction Multiple myeloma (MM) causes lytic bone lesions, osteopenia, and fractures, which increase the morbidity of MM patients. Results from small previous studies have indicated that fractures in MM have a negative effect on survival. Aims The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of fractures on survival in MM patients diagnosed in Sweden in the years 1990-2013. Furthermore, to analyze the effect of bone fractures at MM diagnosis on subsequent survival. Methods Patients diagnosed with MM in 1990-2013 were identified from the Swedish Cancer Registry. Information on date of birth, diagnosis, and death were collected from the Registry of Total Population. Information on all fractures were retrieved from the Swedish Patient Registry. Cox regression model was used with fractures as time-dependent variables. The effect of fractures on survival was assessed for any fracture or a subtype of fracture (a specific bone fracture or ICD-coded pathologic fracture). Either first fracture or the first subtype of fracture was used in the analysis. The effect of a fracture at MM diagnosis (within 30 days before or 30 days after MM diagnosis) on survival was also estimated using a Cox regression model. All models were adjusted for age, sex, time of diagnosis, and previous fractures. Results A total of 14,008 patients were diagnosed with MM in the study period. A total of 4,141 (29.6%) patients developed a fracture including fractures that occurred within a year before MM diagnosis and thereafter. Hereof 2,893 (20.7%) patients developed a fracture after MM diagnosis. The risk of death was significantly increased for patients that developed a fracture after the time of MM diagnosis with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.00 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.91-2.10) for all fractures combined. The risk of death was significantly increased for patients that developed all subtypes of fractures after MM diagnosis except ankle fractures. The risk of death was significantly increased for patients that developed pathologic fractures (HR=2.17; 95% CI 2.03-2.32), vertebral fractures (HR=1.73; 95% CI 1.61-1.87), hip fractures (HR=1.99; 95% CI 1.82-2.18), femoral fractures (HR=2.62; 95% CI 2.32-2.98), humerus fractures (HR=2.57; 95% CI 2.32-2.86), forearm fractures (HR=1.24; 95% CI 1.05-1.46), and rib fractures (HR=1.52; 95% CI 1.31-1.77), but not for ankle fractures (HR 1.07; 95% CI 0.79-1.44). A total of 942 (6.7%) of all MM patients were diagnosed with a fracture within 30 days before or 30 days after MM diagnosis. The patients with a fracture at diagnosis were at a significantly increased risk of death compared to those without (HR 1.31; 95% CI 1.21-1.41; Figure) Conclusions Our large population-based study, including over 14,000 patients diagnosed with MM in Sweden in the years 1990-2013, showed that MM patients that developed a fracture after the time of diagnosis were at twofold increased risk of dying compared to MM patients without a fracture. Furthermore, MM patients with a fracture at diagnosis had a 30% higher risk of dying compared to patients without a fracture. Our results indicate that fractures in MM reflect a more advanced disease at diagnosis and stress the importance of managing MM bone disease in all MM patients. Figure. Figure. Disclosures Landgren: Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Merck: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pfizer: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Research Funding