Sigmoidoscopy screening is generally acceptable to recipients and safe. The high yield of advanced adenomas is consistent with the projected impact of sigmoidoscopy screening on colorectal cancer incidence.

Barrett's esophagus (BE) is an acquired disorder due to chronic gastroesophageal reflux. Environmental factors seem to play an important role in the pathogenesis of BE, especially in Western society. A multicenter case-control study was carried out between February 1995 and April 1999 in 8 Italian Departments of Gastroenterology gathered in a study group (GOSPE), in order to analyze the influence of some individual characteristics and life-style habits on the occurrence of BE. Three groups of patients were studied: 149 patients with BE, 143 patients with esophagitis (E) and 308 hospital controls (C) with acute, non-neoplastic, non-gastroenterological conditions. The diagnosis of BE was based on endoscopy and histology. E was defined by the Savary classification (grade I-III). Data collection was performed by using a questionnaire that focused on smoking, coffee and alcohol consumption, medical history, drugs history, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms (heartburn, regurgitation) and socio-economic status. Multivariate analysis showed that the frequency of weekly GERD symptoms was significantly associated with both BE and E (p<0.0001), such as the presence of hiatal hernia (p<0.001). Ulcer was significantly associated with BE (p‫.)100.0؍‬ Among patients with E, the risk was directly related to spirits consumption (p‫.)30.0؍‬ Patients with GERD symptoms that lasted more than 13 years were more likely to have BE than E (p‫.)10.0؍‬ In conclusion, results from our study point out that long-standing GERD symptoms, hiatal hernia and possibly alcohol consumption are risk factors in the development of the BE and E.

The role of cigarette smoking and diabetes mellitus as risk factors for exocrine pancreatic cancer (PC) was investigated in a hospital based case-control study. Current smokers were at increased risk for PC (OR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.53-3.63): the magnitude of the risk was related to the lifetime amount of smoking (chi2(trend) = 17.00; P < 0.0001). Among former smokers, after 15 years from ceasing smoking, the risk for PC dropped to the level of a lifetime non-smoker, whichever the lifetime smoking amount. Diabetes was associated with a 2.89-fold increased risk for PC (95% CI 1.71-4.86): the risk was 4.76 (95% CI 1.99-11.53) for diabetes diagnosed up to 2 years before the diagnosis of PC and dropped to 2.07 (95% CI 1.02-4.20) for diabetes diagnosed more than 5 years before PC. The risk for PC was estimated according to the treatment used to control diabetes: it was 6.49 (95% CI 2.28-18.48) for insulin treated diabetes and 2.12 (95% CI 1.16-3.87) for diabetes treated with oral hypoglycemic drugs. The risk of PC for diabetes treated for more than 5 years before the diagnosis of PC was 6.21 (95% CI 1.61-23.96) for patients treated with insulin and 1.21 (95% CI 0.50-2.92) for those treated with oral hypoglycemic drugs: the type of treatment needed to control the disease may discriminate between the diabetes that represents a consequence of cancer from the diabetes that could represent an etiological co-factor. More studies are needed to clarify whether long-lasting insulin-treated diabetes is an etiological co-factor in PC.

No abstract

The relationship between first degree family history of colorectal cancer and the risk of benign or malignant tumours of the large bowel was investigated in a case-control study. Two groups of cases (283 patients with adenomatous polyps and 414 patients with adenocarcinoma of the large bowel) and 2 groups of controls (399 polyp-free subjects and 456 hospitalized patients) were interviewed. Since no difference in the frequency of family history between the 2 control groups was detected, these were lumped together. A 3-fold increase in risk of adenomatous polyps in relatives of patients with colon cancer was observed (OR = 3.18, 95% CI 2.06-4.89). The relative risk of colorectal cancer among relatives of patients with adenocarcinoma was 2.36 (95% CI 1.54-3.60). No significant difference in the frequency of first degree relatives with a history of cancer of the large bowel was detected between patients with colorectal cancer and those with adenomatous polyps. When only history of colorectal cancer among parents was considered, the results closely paralleled those of the previous analysis.