The relationship between alcohol drinking (mainly wine) and risk of colon and rectal cancer was considered in a case-control study conducted between 1991 and 1996 in six Italian centers. Cases were 1,225 patients < 75 years of age with histologically confirmed cancer of the colon and 728 patients with cancer of the rectum; controls were 4,154 patients admitted to hospital for a wide spectrum of acute, nonneoplastic diseases. Compared with never drinkers, the odds ratios (OR) for current drinkers in the higher quintile of total alcohol intake (> 51.82 g ethanol/day) were 1.01 for colon cancer and 0.90 for rectal cancer, and those for ex-drinkers were 1.20 and 1.07, respectively. The OR for wine drinkers in the highest quartile of intake were 1.07 for colon cancer and 0.97 for rectal cancer. No association was found with duration of the habit, time since starting, or age at starting. Among ex-drinkers, no association appeared with time since stopping. No significant heterogeneity was found across strata of age at diagnosis, sex, education, smoking status, physical activity, family history of colorectal cancer, beta-carotene, vitamin C, coffee, total fiber and folate intake, and number of meals per day. No significant association appeared for various intestinal subsites.

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Summary As a proportion of AIDS-defining illnesses, Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) decreased from 1987-89 to 1993-94 in homosexual and bisexual men in all European regions and in the United States. Albeit underestimated, AIDS KS rates in the general male population at ages 25-49 are higher than those of the majority of cancer sites in the same age group.Keywords: Kaposi's sarcoma; AIDS; incidence A steady decline, in terms of the percentage of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) as an AIDS-defining illness, was first reported among homosexual and bisexual men in the United States (US) (Des Jarlais et al, 1987). The broadening of the definition of an AIDS case in 1987 does not entirely explain this decline, as it persists when analyses of trends are restricted to KS and Pneumocystis carinii (i.e. two conditions that have always been part of AIDS definition) (Beral et al, 1990).The relative decline in KS was confirmed in AIDS surveillance data or clinical series in several developed countries, such as the United Kingdom (UK) (Peters et al, 1991), Germany (Schwartlander et al, 1992), Italy (Serraino et al, 1992) and Australia (Elford et al, 1993). It is at least partly attributed to the shorter latency period between HIV infection and KS onset than in other AIDS-defining illnesses (Hermans et al, 1996). According to some investigators (Elford et al, 1993;Dore et al, 1996), however, the relative decrease in KS might reflect a reduced prevalence and/or virulence of the postulated KS agent following the adoption of safer sexual practices by homosexual men.Up to the end of 1994, approximately 440 000 AIDS cases had been recorded in official data in the US and about 140 000 in Europe. About 20% of AIDS patients had KS at the time of presentation. It is therefore possible to review systematically recent trends in KS in major European regions, and to assess separately non-homosexual men and women, groups that were little studied in the early phase of the epidemic on account of the low frequency of the disease. Finally, in order to quantify the minimum size of the epidemic of AIDS-associated KS at a population level, age-standardized incidence rates have been computed from AIDS surveillance data.

We report the first results of a comparison between the Italian Registry on AIDS (RAIDS) and 13 population-based cancer registries (about 8 million population in 1991) with respect to the notification of Kaposi's sarcoma and nonHodgkin's lymphoma. Routine indicators of data quality and completeness have been found in both types of registry, consistent with the best international standards. A linkage process was carried out on about 339,000 cancer notifications and 3,134 AIDS notifications and was herein restricted to individuals under the age of 50. Out of 243 Kaposi's sarcomas at either type of registry, 90 (37%) were reported as such by both; 68% of individuals with Kaposi's sarcoma at cancer registries could be identified at the AIDS registry, including AIDS-defining illnesses other than Kaposi's sarcoma; 62% of individuals with Kaposi's sarcoma at RAIDS could be found at cancer registries. Of 2,104 non-Hodgkin's lymphomas at either type of registry, 55 were reported as such by both; 65% of individuals reported as having non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the AIDS registry were found at cancer registries. Our present results indicate the scope for improving cancer assessment in individuals with HIV infection and AIDS and the potential of AIDS and cancer registries for such a purpose. Int.

SummaryTo evaluate whether some form of mild immunosuppression may influence the geographical distribution of non-AIDS Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), we correlated incidence rates of KS and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in individuals aged 60 or more in 18 European countries and Israel. Significant positive correlations emerged but, within highest risk countries (i.e. Italy and Israel), internal correlations were inconsistent.