In order for DNA biobanks to be a valuable reservoir of genetic information, large numbers of participants from all racial and ethnic backgrounds need to be recruited. This study explored reasons for participating in a new biobank among primarily Hispanic and African American individuals, as well as their general attitudes towards genetic research, and their views on obtaining genetic tests. Focus groups were conducted with Mount Sinai Biobank participants recruited from predominantly lower income, minority communities. The topic guide included questions on The Mount Sinai Biobank, genetic research, and genetic testing. All focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The six focus groups comprised 43 participants: 39 females and four males, aged 27-76 years, with a median household income category of $20,000-$39,999. Twenty-one participants were Hispanic, 20 African American, one Asian, and one White. Participants' reasons for participating in the biobank included altruism, personal and family benefit, and general curiosity. Although there was evidence of conflation between genetic research and genetic testing, most participants held positive views of genetic research and expressed interest in receiving personal genetic test results. Participants wanted to learn more about genetic research and suggested various venues such as health fairs for disseminating information. Participation in biobanks by racial and ethnic minorities is apparently driven by altruism, and desire for personal or collective health benefits. genetics and genetic research, and made useful suggestions regarding information dissemination mechanisms.

Patients from traditionally underrepresented communities need to be involved in discussions around genomics research including attitudes towards participation and receiving personal results. Structured interviews, including openended and closed-ended questions, were conducted with 205 patients in an inner-city hospital outpatient clinic: 48 % of participants self-identified as Black or African American, 29 % Hispanic, 10 % White; 49 % had an annual household income of <$20,000. When the potential for personal results to be returned was not mentioned, 82 % of participants were willing to participate in genomics research. Reasons for willingness fell into four themes: altruism; benefit to family members; personal health benefit; personal curiosity and improving understanding. Reasons for being unwilling fell into five themes: negative perception of research; not personally relevant; negative feelings about procedures (e.g., blood draws); practical barriers; and fear of results. Participants were more likely to report that they would participate in genomics research if personal results were offered than if they were not offered (89 vs. 62 % respectively, p<0.001). Participants were Community Genet (2013) 4:469-482 DOI 10.1007 more interested in receiving personal genomic risk results for cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes than obesity (89, 89, 91, 80 % respectively, all p<0.001). The only characteristic consistently associated with interest in receiving personal results was disease-specific worry. There was considerable willingness to participate in and desire for personal results from genomics research in this sample of predominantly lowincome, Hispanic and African American patients. When returning results is not practical, or even when it is, alternatively or additionally providing generic information about genomics and health may also be a valuable commodity to underrepresented minority and other populations considering participating in genomics research.

Background Pancreas-cancer prognosis is dismal, with 5-year survival less than 5%. Significant relationships between aspirin use and decreased pancreas-cancer incidence and mortality have been shown in four of 13 studies. Methods To evaluate further a possible association between aspirin use and risk of pancreatic cancer, we used data from a population-based Connecticut study conducted from January 2005-August 2009, of 362 pancreas-cancer cases frequency matched to 690 randomly sampled controls. Results Overall, regular use of aspirin was associated with reduced risk of pancreatic cancer (odds ratio [OR], 0.52; 95% CI, 0.39–0.69). Increments of decreasing risk of pancreatic cancer were observed for each year of low-dose or regular-dose aspirin use (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.91–0.98 and OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.96–1.01, respectively) and for increasing years in the past that low-dose or regular-dose aspirin use had started (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.92–0.99 and OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.96–1.00, respectively). Reduced risk of pancreatic cancer was seen in most categories of calendar time period of aspirin use, for both low-dose aspirin and regular-dose aspirin use. Relative to continuing use at the time of interview, termination of aspirin use within 2 years of interview was associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer (OR, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.58–6.65). Conclusions Our results provide some support that a daily aspirin regimen may reduce risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Impact Long-term aspirin use has benefits for both cardiovascular disease and cancer, but appreciable bleeding complications that necessitate risk-benefit analysis for individual applications.

Background Few options beside avoidance of smoking and obesity are available to prevent pancreatic cancer. The association between aspirin use and risk of pancreatic cancer has been inconsistent across studies. Methods We performed a population-based study of 761 case and 794 control subjects frequency matched on sex and age during 2006–2011 in Shanghai, China. Participants were asked about episodes of regular use of aspirin, tablets per day or week, and ages that use started and stopped. Data were analyzed by unconditional logistic regression, with adjustments for age, sex, education, body-mass index, years of cigarette smoking, cigarettes smoked per day, Helicobacter pylori CagA seropositivity, ABO blood group, and history of diabetes mellitus. Meta-regression was carried out to summarize the literature. Results Ever-regular use of aspirin was associated with lowered risk of pancreatic cancer: odds ratio [OR] = 0.54; 95% CI, 0.40–0.73, P=10−4.2. Risk decreased 8% per each cumulative year of use: ORtrend = 0.92; 95% CI, 0.87–0.97; P=.0034. Across this and 18 published studies of this association, the OR for ever-regular use decreased with increasingly more recent mid-study year, for any aspirin type (Ptrend=10−5.1), and for low-dose aspirin (Ptrend=0.0014). Conclusion Regular use of aspirin thus appears to reduce risk of pancreatic cancer by almost half. Impact People who take aspirin for prevention of other diseases likely also reduce their risk of pancreatic cancer. Aside from benefits for both cardiovascular disease and certain cancers, long-term aspirin use entails some risks of bleeding complications which necessitates risk-benefit analysis for individual decisions about use.