SELECTED FOOD-INTAKE AND RISK OF VULVAR CANCER

Background. A case-control study was conducted to analyze the associat ion between body mass, selected indicator food intake, and vulvar canc er risk. Methods. The patients included in this report were 125 women aged 80 years or younger with histologically confirmed diagnosis of in vasive vulvar cancer who were admitted to a network of general and tea ching hospitals in the greater Milan area. Control subjects were 541 p atients admitted to teaching and general hospitals in Milan for acute conditions. Results. The risk of vulvar cancer was inversely related t o green vegetable and carrot consumption, the corresponding multivaria te relative risks for lowest versus highest levels of intake being 2.0 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-3.4) and 1.4 (95% CI, 0.9-2.2). Th e trend in risk was significant for green vegetables. No consistent as sociation emerged between milk, meat, liver, alcohol and coffee consum ption and risk of vulvar cancer. In comparison with leaner women, the relative risks of vulvar cancer were 1.8, 1.9, 2.8, and 2.9 in progres sively higher quintiles of the body mass index, and the trend in risk was significant. Conclusions. These data indicate that the risk of vul var cancer is related to a number of nutritional and dietary factors. This is of particular interest, because vulvar cancer is a relatively rare neoplasm, whose etiology is still poorly understood, and on which only a few epidemiologic studies have been conducted.