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Sophia Zackrisson, MD, PhD. Photo.

Sophia Zackrisson

Manager

Sophia Zackrisson, MD, PhD. Photo.

Level of education and the risk of lymphoma in the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition

Author

  • Silke Hermann
  • Sabine Rohrmann
  • Jakob Linseisen
  • Alexandra Nieters
  • Aneire Khan
  • Valentina Gallo
  • Kim Overvad
  • Anne Tjonneland
  • Ole Raaschou-Nielsen
  • Manuela M. Bergmann
  • Heiner Boeing
  • Nikolaus Becker
  • Rudolf Kaaks
  • H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita
  • Anne M. May
  • Roel C. H. Vermeulen
  • Sheila Bingham
  • Kay-Tee Khaw
  • Timothy J. Key
  • Ruth C. Travis
  • Antonia Trichopoulou
  • Christina Georgila
  • Dimitra Triantafylou
  • Egidio Celentano
  • Vittorio Krogh
  • Giovanna Masala
  • Rosario Tumino
  • Antonio Agudo
  • Jone M. Altzibar
  • Eva Ardanaz
  • Carmen Martinez-Garcia
  • Marcial Vicente Argueelles Suarez
  • Maria Jose Tormo
  • Tonje Braaten
  • Eiliv Lund
  • Jonas Manjer
  • Sophia Zackrisson
  • Goran Hallmans
  • Beatrice Malmer
  • Paolo Boffetta
  • Paul Brennan
  • Nadia Slimani
  • Paolo Vineis
  • Elio Riboli
Show all

Summary, in English

Lymphomas belong to the few cancer sites with increasing incidence over past decades, and only a few risk factors have been established. We explored the association between education and the incidence of lymphoma in the prospective EPIC study. Within 3,567,410 person-years of follow-up, 1,319 lymphoma cases [1,253 non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) and 66 Hodgkin lymphomas (HL)] were identified. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to examine the association between highest educational level (primary school or less, technical/professional school, secondary school, university) and lymphoma risk. Overall, no consistent associations between educational level and lymphoma risk were observed; however, associations were found for sub-groups of the cohort. We observed a higher risk of B-NHL (HR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.02-1.68; n = 583) in women with the highest education level (university) but not in men. Concerning sub-classes of B-NHL, a positive association between education and risk of B cell chronic lymphatic leukaemia (BCLL) was observed only in women. In both genders, the risk of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was significantly lower for subjects with university degree (HR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.27-0.79) versus lowest educational level. No association was found for HL. We could not confirm an overall consistent association of education and risk of HL or NHL in this large prospective study; although, education was positively related to the incidence of BCLL and B-NHL (in women) but inversely to incidence of DLBCL. Due to limited number of cases in sub-classes and the large number of comparisons, the possibility of chance findings can not be excluded.

Department/s

  • Surgery
  • Radiology Diagnostics, Malmö
  • EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health

Publishing year

2010

Language

English

Pages

71-77

Publication/Series

Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology

Volume

136

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Cancer and Oncology

Keywords

  • Cohort study
  • Education
  • Lymphomas
  • SES

Status

Published

Research group

  • Surgery
  • Radiology Diagnostics, Malmö

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1432-1335