Suicide rate is two-fold higher among cancer patients than in the general population. General and... more Suicide rate is two-fold higher among cancer patients than in the general population. General and cancer-related risk factors for suicide are easily identified by caregivers interacting with patients, but with the exception of depression - the strongest one. This hampers the feasibility of screening of patients by the treating personnel. While new treatments tend to make cancer a chronic disease, which exposes patients to prolonged periods of uncertainty about recurrences, two recent advances have improved the possibility to prevent suicide. On the one hand, the emerging concept of cancer survivorship care has placed the identification of long-term consequences of cancer and its treatments, including an increased risk for suicide, among the objectives of patient follow-up. On the other hand, models of multidisciplinary team care have been implemented in several areas of cancer management. Although the psycho-oncologist has a complementary role, a clear definition of its relationship with the multidisciplinary teams facilitates the adoption of screening programmes for the detection of conditions of increased risk for suicide in cancer care facilities.
This article analyses the mortality data used for the calculation of relative survival, within th... more This article analyses the mortality data used for the calculation of relative survival, within the survival study of the cases incident in 1990-1994. The mortality data used in the 14 cancer registries come from ISTAT or other official sources. Results show higher death risk for all causes of death in men and lower in women. Risk increases with age, values are generally higher in the North and lower in the Centre and the South of the country. Consistently with mortality trends, the difference between observed and relative survival is higher in older age groups, and in men rather than women, with an increasing difference the further from the date of diagnosis.
Giornale italiano di dermatologia e venereologia : organo ufficiale, Società italiana di dermatologia e sifilografia, Aug 1, 2021
BACKGROUND Prognostic factors in cutaneous melanoma are commonly evaluated by the Cox proportiona... more BACKGROUND Prognostic factors in cutaneous melanoma are commonly evaluated by the Cox proportional hazard model. However, the interpretation of the effect of multiple variables is not straightforward. Classification and Regression Trees Analysis (CART), which allows a more friendly data evaluation, could be a valid integration of the message from Cox model. METHODS The CART algorithm splits up data, creating a "tree" of groups of patients with different profiles for risk of death. Results are easy to interpret in clinical practice. A total of 2,692 patients with invasive cutaneous melanoma registered in Romagna (northern Italy) between 1993-2012 and followed-up until the end of 2013 were included. The Cox model and CART analysis were applied to sex, patient age, histological subtype, Breslow's tumour thickness, ulceration, site of disease, and Clark level. RESULTS The CART analysis identified 15 categories which were collapsed into five classes with statistically different survival. The best prognostic group (10-year observed survival, 99.1%) included subjects with Breslow's thickness ≤ 0.78 mm and age 16-81 years. The worst prognostic group (10-year observed survival, 35.8%) comprised subjects with thickness ≥ 3.75 mm and age 16-96 years. According to the Cox model, patient age, histological subtype, Breslow thickness, ulceration, and site of disease had a significant independent prognostic value. CONCLUSIONS CART and Cox models provided consistent results. CART seemed friendlier in its interpretation and it could facilitate the communication of risk.
• Growing difficulties in calculating the proportional incidence of interval breast cancers are e... more • Growing difficulties in calculating the proportional incidence of interval breast cancers are emerging in screening programmes.
In 1990, The Bethesda System (TBS) was introduced into spontaneous cervical screening practice in... more In 1990, The Bethesda System (TBS) was introduced into spontaneous cervical screening practice in Ravenna, Italy. Negative/benign reports with the recommendation for early repeat smears (RERS) due to some limitation in sample adequacy were considered no longer acceptable. A monitoring program for the rate of unsatisfactory smears (UNS) was implemented. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of such changes in the screening procedure. The frequency of UNS in 1990 was compared with that of UNS+RERS in 1988 (assumed as a baseline year) by the calculation of the standardized rate ratio with the 95% confidence interval (CI). The trend in the standardized rate of UNS from 1990 to 1994 was evaluated by the calculation of the average annual variation with the 95% CI. The immediate effect of TBS (1990; 1988 comparison) was a significant increase in the rate of UNS attributable to scant cellularity, poor fixation and thick areas (rate ratio, 2.35; 95% CI, 2.18 to 2.53) and to the absence of endocervical component (1.45; 95% CI, 1.30 to 1.60). The rate of UNS attributable to the presence of cytolysis, inflammation, blood and foreign material decreased by about 6 times (0.16; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.19). The midterm effect of TBS (trend from 1990 to 1994) was a decrease in the total rate of UNS by an average of 2.3% per year. The downward trend was significant for smears showing scant cellularity, poor fixation and thick areas (-1.5% per year) and the absence of endocervical component (-0.7% per year). UNS attributable to the presence of cytolysis, inflammation, blood and foreign material stabilized. TBS led to a substantial change in the type of information provided by the cytology report (immediate effect). The monitoring program according to TBS led to a reduction in UNS attributable to sample taker (midterm effect).
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Oct 1, 2022
BACKGROUND & AIMS This cohort study compared colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality ... more BACKGROUND & AIMS This cohort study compared colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality between people who participated in an Italian regional biennial fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening program and people who did not. METHODS The program started in 2005. The target population included over 1,000,000 people aged 50-69 years. The FIT was a one-sample OC-Sensor (Eiken Chemical Co., Tokyo, Japan) (cut-off, ≥20 μg hemoglobin/g feces). The average annual response rate to invitation was 51.4%. The records of people invited up to June 2016 were extracted from the screening data warehouse. Attenders were subjects who responded to the first 2 invitations or to the single invitation sent them before they became ineligible. Non-attenders were subjects who did not respond to any of these invitations. The records were linked with the regional CRC registry. People registered up to December 2016 were identified. Self-selection-adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRR) and incidence-based CRC mortality rate ratios (MRR) for attenders to non-attenders, with 95% confidence intervals (CI), were calculated. RESULTS The cohort generated 2,622,131 man-years and 2,887,845 woman-years at risk with 4,490 and 3,309 CRC cases, respectively. The cohort of attenders was associated with an IRR of 0.65 (95% CI, 0.61-0.69) for men, 0.75 (0.70-0.80) for women, and 0.69 (0.66-0.72) for both sexes combined. The self-selection-adjusted IRR was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.62-0.72) for men, and 0.79 (0.72-0.88) for women. The IRR for stage I, II, III and IV CRC was 1.35 (95% CI, 1.20-1.50), 0.61 (0.53-0.69), 0.60 (0.53-0.68) and 0.28 (0.24-0.32) for men and 1.64 (1.43-1.89), 0.60 (0.52-0.69), 0.73 (0.63-0.85), and 0.35 (0.30-0.42) for women. The overall incidence-based CRC MRR was 0.32 (95% CI, 0.28-0.37) for men, 0.40 (0.34-0.47) for women and 0.35 (0.31-0.39) for both sexes combined. The adjusted MRR was 0.35 (95% CI, 0.29-0.41) for men and 0.46 (95% CI, 0.37-0.58) for women. CONCLUSIONS Attendance to a FIT screening program is associated with a CRC incidence reduction of 33% among men and 21% among women, and a CRC mortality reduction of 65% and 54%, respectively.
Objectives: to evaluate the incidence of advanced-stage breast cancer (BC) - an early surrogate i... more Objectives: to evaluate the incidence of advanced-stage breast cancer (BC) - an early surrogate indicator of effectiveness of mammography screening - among women who attended the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Region (Northern Italy) screening programme compared to women who did not attend. Design: retrospective cohort study. Women invited to the first screening round (2006-2007) were identified from the database of the programme. The cohort was record-linked to the archive of women invited to the second round (2008-2009). The definition of attendance to screening was based on attendance to at least one of the two rounds. The incidence of BC was assessed through record linkage with the FVG cancer registry using an anonymous univocal identifier (end of follow-up: 31st December 2013). Three distinct definitions of advanced stage were used: pT2 or greater (pT2+), positive lymph nodes (pN+), and TNM stage II or greater (stage II+). Setting and participants: organized mammography screening programme for women aged 50-69 years in the five regional healthcare districts. Main outcome measures: incidence rate ratio (IRR) between attenders and non-attenders, adjusted for age and deprivation index, with 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Results: the cohort included 104,488 attenders and 49,839 non-attenders. During follow-up (median duration 84 months), 2,717 invasive BCs were diagnosed among attenders and 1,149 among non-attenders. Total incidence rate was 13% higher among attenders (IRR 1.13; 95%CI 1.05-1.21). These, conversely, had a 36% lower rate of pT2+ BC (IRR 0.64; 95%CI 0.56-0.72), a 13% lower rate of pN+ BC (IRR 0.87; 95%CI 0.78-0.98), a 22% lower rate of stage II+ BC (IRR 0.78; 95%CI 0.70-0.87), and a 32% lower rate of mastectomy (IRR 0.68; 95%CI 0.60-0.78). Conclusions: attenders had lower incidence rates of advanced-stage BC. This early effect is suggestive of a future impact of the screening programme on BC mortality.
Background: An acceptable level of reliability is a prerequisite for the introduction of epilumin... more Background: An acceptable level of reliability is a prerequisite for the introduction of epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) into the diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions. Objective: To assess the effects of a training program on the reproducibility and accuracy of ELM as compared to clinical evaluation. Methods: Before and after the program, 48 clinical images and their ELM counterparts were independently evaluated by seven participants. Reproducibility was measured by the κ index, accuracy by the rate of exact diagnoses (RED) assuming histology as a reference. Results: We observed (i) no effect of training on clinical reproducibility, (II) an improved reproducibility of ELM diagnoses of nonmelanocytic lesions (NML) and melanomas but not of melanocytic nevi (MN), (iii) a greater increase in the clinical RED of NML and melanomas compared with MN and (iv) a similar though more pronounced increase in the RED on ELM. Conclusions: The effects of training were greater for ELM as compared to clinical diagnosis, and for NML and melanomas as compared to MN.
Suicide rate is two-fold higher among cancer patients than in the general population. General and... more Suicide rate is two-fold higher among cancer patients than in the general population. General and cancer-related risk factors for suicide are easily identified by caregivers interacting with patients, but with the exception of depression - the strongest one. This hampers the feasibility of screening of patients by the treating personnel. While new treatments tend to make cancer a chronic disease, which exposes patients to prolonged periods of uncertainty about recurrences, two recent advances have improved the possibility to prevent suicide. On the one hand, the emerging concept of cancer survivorship care has placed the identification of long-term consequences of cancer and its treatments, including an increased risk for suicide, among the objectives of patient follow-up. On the other hand, models of multidisciplinary team care have been implemented in several areas of cancer management. Although the psycho-oncologist has a complementary role, a clear definition of its relationship with the multidisciplinary teams facilitates the adoption of screening programmes for the detection of conditions of increased risk for suicide in cancer care facilities.
This article analyses the mortality data used for the calculation of relative survival, within th... more This article analyses the mortality data used for the calculation of relative survival, within the survival study of the cases incident in 1990-1994. The mortality data used in the 14 cancer registries come from ISTAT or other official sources. Results show higher death risk for all causes of death in men and lower in women. Risk increases with age, values are generally higher in the North and lower in the Centre and the South of the country. Consistently with mortality trends, the difference between observed and relative survival is higher in older age groups, and in men rather than women, with an increasing difference the further from the date of diagnosis.
Giornale italiano di dermatologia e venereologia : organo ufficiale, Società italiana di dermatologia e sifilografia, Aug 1, 2021
BACKGROUND Prognostic factors in cutaneous melanoma are commonly evaluated by the Cox proportiona... more BACKGROUND Prognostic factors in cutaneous melanoma are commonly evaluated by the Cox proportional hazard model. However, the interpretation of the effect of multiple variables is not straightforward. Classification and Regression Trees Analysis (CART), which allows a more friendly data evaluation, could be a valid integration of the message from Cox model. METHODS The CART algorithm splits up data, creating a "tree" of groups of patients with different profiles for risk of death. Results are easy to interpret in clinical practice. A total of 2,692 patients with invasive cutaneous melanoma registered in Romagna (northern Italy) between 1993-2012 and followed-up until the end of 2013 were included. The Cox model and CART analysis were applied to sex, patient age, histological subtype, Breslow's tumour thickness, ulceration, site of disease, and Clark level. RESULTS The CART analysis identified 15 categories which were collapsed into five classes with statistically different survival. The best prognostic group (10-year observed survival, 99.1%) included subjects with Breslow's thickness ≤ 0.78 mm and age 16-81 years. The worst prognostic group (10-year observed survival, 35.8%) comprised subjects with thickness ≥ 3.75 mm and age 16-96 years. According to the Cox model, patient age, histological subtype, Breslow thickness, ulceration, and site of disease had a significant independent prognostic value. CONCLUSIONS CART and Cox models provided consistent results. CART seemed friendlier in its interpretation and it could facilitate the communication of risk.
• Growing difficulties in calculating the proportional incidence of interval breast cancers are e... more • Growing difficulties in calculating the proportional incidence of interval breast cancers are emerging in screening programmes.
In 1990, The Bethesda System (TBS) was introduced into spontaneous cervical screening practice in... more In 1990, The Bethesda System (TBS) was introduced into spontaneous cervical screening practice in Ravenna, Italy. Negative/benign reports with the recommendation for early repeat smears (RERS) due to some limitation in sample adequacy were considered no longer acceptable. A monitoring program for the rate of unsatisfactory smears (UNS) was implemented. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of such changes in the screening procedure. The frequency of UNS in 1990 was compared with that of UNS+RERS in 1988 (assumed as a baseline year) by the calculation of the standardized rate ratio with the 95% confidence interval (CI). The trend in the standardized rate of UNS from 1990 to 1994 was evaluated by the calculation of the average annual variation with the 95% CI. The immediate effect of TBS (1990; 1988 comparison) was a significant increase in the rate of UNS attributable to scant cellularity, poor fixation and thick areas (rate ratio, 2.35; 95% CI, 2.18 to 2.53) and to the absence of endocervical component (1.45; 95% CI, 1.30 to 1.60). The rate of UNS attributable to the presence of cytolysis, inflammation, blood and foreign material decreased by about 6 times (0.16; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.19). The midterm effect of TBS (trend from 1990 to 1994) was a decrease in the total rate of UNS by an average of 2.3% per year. The downward trend was significant for smears showing scant cellularity, poor fixation and thick areas (-1.5% per year) and the absence of endocervical component (-0.7% per year). UNS attributable to the presence of cytolysis, inflammation, blood and foreign material stabilized. TBS led to a substantial change in the type of information provided by the cytology report (immediate effect). The monitoring program according to TBS led to a reduction in UNS attributable to sample taker (midterm effect).
Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Oct 1, 2022
BACKGROUND & AIMS This cohort study compared colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality ... more BACKGROUND & AIMS This cohort study compared colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality between people who participated in an Italian regional biennial fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening program and people who did not. METHODS The program started in 2005. The target population included over 1,000,000 people aged 50-69 years. The FIT was a one-sample OC-Sensor (Eiken Chemical Co., Tokyo, Japan) (cut-off, ≥20 μg hemoglobin/g feces). The average annual response rate to invitation was 51.4%. The records of people invited up to June 2016 were extracted from the screening data warehouse. Attenders were subjects who responded to the first 2 invitations or to the single invitation sent them before they became ineligible. Non-attenders were subjects who did not respond to any of these invitations. The records were linked with the regional CRC registry. People registered up to December 2016 were identified. Self-selection-adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRR) and incidence-based CRC mortality rate ratios (MRR) for attenders to non-attenders, with 95% confidence intervals (CI), were calculated. RESULTS The cohort generated 2,622,131 man-years and 2,887,845 woman-years at risk with 4,490 and 3,309 CRC cases, respectively. The cohort of attenders was associated with an IRR of 0.65 (95% CI, 0.61-0.69) for men, 0.75 (0.70-0.80) for women, and 0.69 (0.66-0.72) for both sexes combined. The self-selection-adjusted IRR was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.62-0.72) for men, and 0.79 (0.72-0.88) for women. The IRR for stage I, II, III and IV CRC was 1.35 (95% CI, 1.20-1.50), 0.61 (0.53-0.69), 0.60 (0.53-0.68) and 0.28 (0.24-0.32) for men and 1.64 (1.43-1.89), 0.60 (0.52-0.69), 0.73 (0.63-0.85), and 0.35 (0.30-0.42) for women. The overall incidence-based CRC MRR was 0.32 (95% CI, 0.28-0.37) for men, 0.40 (0.34-0.47) for women and 0.35 (0.31-0.39) for both sexes combined. The adjusted MRR was 0.35 (95% CI, 0.29-0.41) for men and 0.46 (95% CI, 0.37-0.58) for women. CONCLUSIONS Attendance to a FIT screening program is associated with a CRC incidence reduction of 33% among men and 21% among women, and a CRC mortality reduction of 65% and 54%, respectively.
Objectives: to evaluate the incidence of advanced-stage breast cancer (BC) - an early surrogate i... more Objectives: to evaluate the incidence of advanced-stage breast cancer (BC) - an early surrogate indicator of effectiveness of mammography screening - among women who attended the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Region (Northern Italy) screening programme compared to women who did not attend. Design: retrospective cohort study. Women invited to the first screening round (2006-2007) were identified from the database of the programme. The cohort was record-linked to the archive of women invited to the second round (2008-2009). The definition of attendance to screening was based on attendance to at least one of the two rounds. The incidence of BC was assessed through record linkage with the FVG cancer registry using an anonymous univocal identifier (end of follow-up: 31st December 2013). Three distinct definitions of advanced stage were used: pT2 or greater (pT2+), positive lymph nodes (pN+), and TNM stage II or greater (stage II+). Setting and participants: organized mammography screening programme for women aged 50-69 years in the five regional healthcare districts. Main outcome measures: incidence rate ratio (IRR) between attenders and non-attenders, adjusted for age and deprivation index, with 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Results: the cohort included 104,488 attenders and 49,839 non-attenders. During follow-up (median duration 84 months), 2,717 invasive BCs were diagnosed among attenders and 1,149 among non-attenders. Total incidence rate was 13% higher among attenders (IRR 1.13; 95%CI 1.05-1.21). These, conversely, had a 36% lower rate of pT2+ BC (IRR 0.64; 95%CI 0.56-0.72), a 13% lower rate of pN+ BC (IRR 0.87; 95%CI 0.78-0.98), a 22% lower rate of stage II+ BC (IRR 0.78; 95%CI 0.70-0.87), and a 32% lower rate of mastectomy (IRR 0.68; 95%CI 0.60-0.78). Conclusions: attenders had lower incidence rates of advanced-stage BC. This early effect is suggestive of a future impact of the screening programme on BC mortality.
Background: An acceptable level of reliability is a prerequisite for the introduction of epilumin... more Background: An acceptable level of reliability is a prerequisite for the introduction of epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) into the diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions. Objective: To assess the effects of a training program on the reproducibility and accuracy of ELM as compared to clinical evaluation. Methods: Before and after the program, 48 clinical images and their ELM counterparts were independently evaluated by seven participants. Reproducibility was measured by the κ index, accuracy by the rate of exact diagnoses (RED) assuming histology as a reference. Results: We observed (i) no effect of training on clinical reproducibility, (II) an improved reproducibility of ELM diagnoses of nonmelanocytic lesions (NML) and melanomas but not of melanocytic nevi (MN), (iii) a greater increase in the clinical RED of NML and melanomas compared with MN and (iv) a similar though more pronounced increase in the RED on ELM. Conclusions: The effects of training were greater for ELM as compared to clinical diagnosis, and for NML and melanomas as compared to MN.
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