META ANALYSIS OF RISK FACTORS FOR PROSTATE CANCER

描述：(应聘者描述)前列腺癌的病因是 尽管前列腺癌是最常见的，但仍然相对鲜为人知 美国男性罹患癌症。前列腺癌的发病率 自1990年以来，美国的癌症人数增加了200%以上 到1997年，前列腺癌死亡率上升了39% 同样的时间段。年估计的新病例和死亡人数 前列腺癌继续上升，辨别致癌因素是什么 这类癌症的发病率是很重要的。虽然没有发现新的假设， 对先前的研究进行的Meta分析评估了 潜在的危险因素和前列腺癌可能有助于指导寻找 这种疾病的病因。在决定如何继续进行 测量前列腺癌之间复杂关联的病例对照研究 和性史，我们需要更好地了解目前 有关性史和可能的混杂因素的信息。 研究人员为元分析建议的各种技术可以是 概括为两种方法：结合意义 效果大小的级别和组合。在这项研究中，我们计划研究一种 通过合并相对风险估计而产生的合并效应大小的变化。 这项建议的总体目标是进行与以下方面相关的研究 前列腺癌病因学研究结合相对风险估计(RRS)和 他们与之前进行的研究的差异，以检查两个 观察到的关联性的强弱和一致性。我们将进行一项 与前列腺癌相关的性行为的大型荟萃分析，以及 关于输精管结扎术和饮食脂肪的两项较小的荟萃分析。 为了达到这些目标，我们将进行三项荟萃分析，研究 前列腺癌与下列每个危险因素之间的关系： 1)性活动，2)输精管结扎术，3)膳食脂肪。两国关系 前列腺癌和这些危险因素之间的关系将分别进行检查 通过组合每个研究的风险估计来单独进行总体 相对风险估计以及通过研究设计的组合估计(例如， 队列、病例对照)，以及数据抽象的方法。当数据为 ，我们还将按种族检查关联，以尝试更好地 了解非裔美国男性患前列腺癌的风险增加。 这个项目的长期目标是用一个大的 前列腺癌病因的病例对照研究。

DESCRIPTION: (Applicant's Description) Prostate cancer's etiologies are still relatively unknown despite prostate cancer being the most common cancer among men in the United States. The incidence rate of prostate cancer in the United States has increased by more than 200 percent from 1990 to 1997 and prostate cancer mortality has increased by 39 percent during that same time period. As the number of estimated new cases and deaths for prostate cancer continue to rise, discerning what the causative factors are of this type of cancer is important. While not uncovering new hypotheses, meta-analyses conducted on previous studies evaluating associations between potential risk factors and prostate cancer may help to guide the search for the etiologies of this disease. Before deciding how to proceed with a case-control study measuring the complex association between prostate cancer and sexual history, we need to have a better understanding of the current information on sexual histories and possible confounders of the association. The various techniques suggested by researchers for meta-analysis can be generally summarized into two approaches: combination of significance levels and combination of effect sizes. In this study, we plan to look at a variation on combining effect sizes by combining of relative risk estimates. The overall aims of this proposal are to conduct research relevant to prostate cancer etiology by combining relative risk estimates (RRs) and their variances from previously conducted studies to examine both the strengths and consistency of the observed associations. We will conduct a large meta-analyses of sexual activity associated with prostate cancer, and two smaller meta-analyses related to vasectomy and dietary fat. To meet these aims, we will conduct three meta-analyses by examining the association between prostate cancer and each of the following risk factors: 1) sexual activity, 2) vasectomy, and 3) dietary fat. The relationship between prostate cancer and these risk factors will each be examined separately by combining risk estimates from each study for an overall relative risk estimate along with combined estimates by study design (e.g., cohort, case control), and by method of data abstraction. When data is available, we will also examine associations by race in an attempt to better understand the increased risk of prostate cancer among African-American men. The long term goal of this project is to follow up the results with a large case-control study of prostate cancer etiologies.