RESUMEN
This present work aims to give a critical description of the organization and operative aspects of project ORDET (prospective study on diet and hormones in the aetiology of breast cancer). A number of problems which could arise when carrying-out a prospective study are described: they concern participant recruitment, laboratory organization, planning of a biological bank plus relative security checks in order to ensure full workability and personnel standardization in questionnaire administration and anthropometrical measurements. The methods adopted by ORDET, or at least some of them, could be useful for those engaged in the planning phase of a similarly designed project using a biological bank.
Asunto(s)
Neoplasias de la Mama/etiología , Bancos de Tejidos , Adulto , Anciano , Antropometría , Dieta , Femenino , Hormonas Esteroides Gonadales , Humanos , Italia , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estudios ProspectivosRESUMEN
Intra-individual variability for serum and urinary hormones has been inadequately considered in previous studies. Therefore, in the planning phase of a prospective study of Hormones and Diet in the Etiology of Breast Cancer (ORDET study), androgen levels have been examined at two different times in 56 women (26 in premenopause and 30 in postmenopause). Hormonal measurements in serum showed a good level of agreement for both premenopause (pre) and postmenopause (post): androstenedione pre r = 0.70 (p less than 0.0001), post r = 0.77 (p less than 0.0001); testosterone pre r = 0.73 (p less than 0.0001), post log values r = 0.74 (p less than 0.0001). Dihydrotestosterone showed a good level for premenopause only: log values pre r = 0.82 (p less than 0.0001), post r = 0.41 (p less than 0.05). Agreement levels in urine were inferior to those of serum: testosterone pre r = 0.53 (p less than 0.05), post r = 0.41 (p less than 0.05); androstanediol log values r = 0.46 (p less than 0.001), post log values r = 0.57 (p less than 0.05). Correlation between the two measurements improves considering age, parity, time of blood collection and, for urine, the interval of sample collections.
Asunto(s)
Andrógenos/sangre , Menopausia/sangre , Menstruación/sangre , Adulto , Andrógenos/orina , Femenino , Humanos , Menopausia/orina , Menstruación/orina , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estudios Prospectivos , Análisis de RegresiónRESUMEN
The possible role of a class of herbicides, triazines, in ovarian carcinogenesis has been evaluated in a population-based case-referent study. The trade names reported by the study subjects, and the type of cultivation in which they worked, were used for the assessment of exposure. Women previously exposed to triazines showed a significant relative risk of 2.7 for ovarian neoplasms. Although none of the doses could be quantified for the study subjects, two risk trends in favor of the plausibility of the association were found: the first by duration and the second by probability of exposure. The population representativity of the study and the comparability of information between the cases and referents suggest the lack of any major bias in the results. Triazine-related risk remained consistent when the analysis was restricted to farmers and when the exposure to other herbicides and to other types of cultivation were considered. Unexposed farmers had the same risk as unexposed nonfarmers.