Knowledge about place of death and its determinants will facilitate the planning of healthcare services to enable patients with terminal cancer to die at home and in in-patient hospices, thereby avoiding inappropriate hospitalization at the end of life.

BackgroundThe benefit of early dialysis initiation remains controversial with a paucity of data in Asians. Therefore, we undertook this study to investigate the association between timing of initiation of dialysis and mortality in Singapore.MethodsThe study used data from the Singapore Renal Registry database on 3286 patients with incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who commenced maintenance dialysis between January 2008 and December 2011. The data was further linked with the National Death Registry to acquire survival information until December 2013. We classified serum creatinine-based, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) by the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation at the start of dialysis into 3 categories: Early (≥10 ml/min/1.73m2), intermediate (5 to <10 ml/min/1.73m2) and late (<5 ml/min/1.73m2).ResultsIn the unadjusted analysis, both early and intermediate dialysis initiation groups were at greater risk of death relative to late dialysis (Early: HR = 2.47; Intermediate: HR = 1.54). In the multivariate model, a significant interaction was detected between age and eGFR at dialysis initiation (p = 0.04). Adjusted mortality risk progressively increased with earlier initiation of dialysis for patients aged 18–54 years (p = 0.006) and aged 55 to 64 years (p < 0.001), and no statistically significant difference was observed for patients aged 65 years or older (p = 0.12).ConclusionsEarly versus later initiation of dialysis was associated with significantly higher risk of mortality in Singapore’s non-elderly population, and appeared to offer no survival advantage among the elderly.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12882-017-0590-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

There is experimental evidence that calcium protects against breast cancer development. Prospective epidemiologic studies supporting a protective effect of calcium on breast cancer risk have mainly been limited to Western populations. We examined the association between calcium intake and breast cancer risk in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a large population-based prospective cohort. Calcium intake and supplement use was assessed by in-person interviewer using a validated food frequency questionnaire. After a mean follow-up of 14.2±3.5 years, 823 cohort participants developed invasive breast cancer. Multivariate proportional hazards regression models were fitted to examine the associations between calcium intake and breast cancer risk. Vegetables were the primary food source of calcium in this study population, followed by dairy products, grains and soy foods. Calcium intake was not associated with breast cancer risk, comparing highest quartile (>345.6 mg/1000 kcal/day) to lowest quartile (<204.5mg/1000 kcal/day) of intake. There was no evidence of effect modification by menopausal status, body mass index, dietary vitamin D or stage of disease at diagnosis. Our findings do not support a hypothesis for calcium in breast cancer chemoprevention, contrary to findings from previous studies among Western populations with higher calcium intake primarily from dairy products and supplements.

RESUlTS Nationally, there was a greater decline in the age-standardised incidence and mortality rates in the period Among women aged 25-69 years who had their first Pap smear screening and who were recommended for routine rescreen in three years, 10% had a subsequent rescreen within three years. Overall, the CSS programme was able to detect 0.37 invasive cancers per 1,000 screens in women aged 25-69 years. CONClUSIONThe CSS programme has contributed to a decline in the mortality and incidence of cervical cancer in Singapore. However, the challenges of increasing the screening uptake among eligible women need to be addressed.

This study reaffirms the overall safety and efficacy of oral isotretinoin in Asian patients with acne vulgaris.