Serge Benayoun

BACKGROUND: Although inhaled corticosteroids are effective for the treatment of asthma, it is uncertain whether their use can prevent death from asthma. METHODS: We used the Saskatchewan Health data bases to form a population-based cohort of all subjects from 5 through 44 years of age who were using antiasthma drugs during the period from 1975 through 1991. We followed subjects until the end of 1997, their 55th birthday, death, emigration, or termination of health insurance coverage; whichever came first. We conducted a nested case-control study in which subjects who died of asthma were matched with controls within the cohort according to the length of follow-up at the time of death of the case patient (the index date), the date of study entry, and the severity of asthma. We calculated rate ratios after adjustment for the subject's age and sex; the number of prescriptions of theophylline, nebulized and oral beta-adrenergic agonists, and oral corticosteroids in the year before the index date; the number of canisters of inhaled beta-adrenergic agonists used in the year before the index date; and the number of hospitalizations for asthma in the two years before the index date. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 30,569 subjects. Of the 562 deaths, 77 were classified as due to asthma. We matched the 66 subjects who died of asthma for whom there were complete data with 2681 controls. Fifty-three percent of the case patients and 46 percent of the control patients had used inhaled corticosteroids in the previous year, most commonly low-dose beclomethasone. The mean number of canisters was 1.18 for the patients who died and 1.57 for the controls. On the basis of a continuous dose-response analysis, we calculated that the rate of death from asthma decreased by 21 percent with each additional canister of inhaled corticosteroids used in the previous year (adjusted rate ratio, 0.79; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.65 to 0.97). The rate of death from asthma during the first three months after discontinuation of inhaled corticosteroids was higher than the rate among patients who continued to use the drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The regular use of low-dose inhaled corticosteroids is associated with a decreased risk of death from asthma.

PURPOSE: To determine whether the use of statins after prostate cancer diagnosis is associated with a decreased risk of cancer-related mortality and all-cause mortality and to assess whether this association is modified by prediagnostic use of statins. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cohort of 11,772 men newly diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer between April 1, 1998, and December 31, 2009, followed until October 1, 2012, was identified using a large population-based electronic database from the United Kingdom. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs of mortality outcomes associated with postdiagnostic use of statins, lagged by 1 year to account for latency considerations and to minimize reverse causality, and considering effect modification by prediagnostic use of statins. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up time of 4.4 years (standard deviation, 2.9 years), 3,499 deaths occurred, including 1,791 from prostate cancer. Postdiagnostic use of statins was associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer mortality (HR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.66 to 0.88) and all-cause mortality (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.95). These decreased risks of prostate cancer mortality and all-cause mortality were more pronounced in patients who also used statins before diagnosis (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.74; and HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81, respectively), with weaker effects in patients who initiated the treatment only after diagnosis (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.96; and HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.82 to 1.01, respectively). CONCLUSION: Overall, the use of statins after diagnosis was associated with a decreased risk in prostate cancer mortality. However, this effect was stronger in patients who also used statins before diagnosis.

PURPOSE: We developed and validated a nomogram which predicts presence of prostate cancer (PCa) on needle biopsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used 3 cohorts of men who were evaluated with sextant biopsy of the prostate and whose presenting prostate specific antigen (PSA) was not greater than 50 ng/ml. Data from 4,193 men from Montreal, Canada were used to develop a nomogram based on age, digital rectal examination (DRE) and serum PSA. External validation was performed on 1,762 men from Hamburg, Germany. Data from these men were subsequently used to develop a second nomogram in which percent free PSA (%fPSA) was added as a predictor. External validation was performed using 514 men from Montreal. Both nomograms were based on multivariate logistic regression models. Predictive accuracy was evaluated with areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve and graphically with loess smoothing plots. RESULTS: PCa was detected in 1,477 (35.2%) men from Montreal, 739 (41.9%) men from Hamburg and 189 (36.8%) men from Montreal. In all models all predictors were significant at 0.05. Using age, DRE and PSA external validation AUC was 0.69. Using age, DRE, PSA and %fPSA external validation AUC was 0.77. CONCLUSIONS: A nomogram based on age, DRE, PSA and %fPSA can highly accurately predict the outcome of prostate biopsy in men at risk for PCa.

PURPOSE: We developed and validated nomograms that accurately predict disease recurrence and progression in patients with Ta, T1, or CIS transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder using a large international cohort. METHODS: Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models targeted histologically confirmed disease recurrence, and focused on 2,542 patients with bladder TCC from 10 participating centers. Variables consisted of pre-cystoscopy voided urine Nuclear Matrix Protein 22 (NMP22) assay, urine cytology, age and gender. Resulting nomograms were internally validated with bootstrapping. Nomogram performance was explored graphically with Loess smoothing plots. RESULTS: Overall 957 patients had recurrent TCC. Tumor grade and stage was available for 898 patients, including 24% grade I, 43% grade II, and 33% grade III; 45% stage Ta, 32% T1 and/or CIS, and 23% T2 or greater. Bootstrap corrected predictive accuracy for any TCC recurrence was 0.842; grade III Ta/T1 or CIS was 0.869; and T2 or higher stage TCC of any grade was 0.858. Virtually perfect performance characteristics were observed for the nomograms predicting any TCC recurrence or grade III Ta/T1 or CIS. The nomogram predicting T2 or higher stage TCC overestimated the observed probability for predicted values greater than 45%. CONCLUSIONS: We developed and internally validated nomograms that incorporate urinary NMP22, cytology, age and gender to predict with high accuracy the probability of disease recurrence and progression in patients with Ta, T1, and/or CIS bladder TCC. These nomograms could provide a means for individualizing followup in patients with Ta, T1, CIS bladder TCC.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the contemporary inter-institutional accuracy of urinary cytology in predicting the recurrence of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder, in a large multi-institutional cohort from four continents, as cystoscopy and urinary cytology represent the 'gold standards' for surveillance of TCC recurrences, but the ability of cytology to predict recurrence varies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ten institutions contributed 2542 patients with a history of superficial TCC, of whom 898 had TCC recurrence. Age- and gender-adjusted logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between urine cytology and TCC recurrence. The predictive accuracy derived from the logistic regression model was tested using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. The resulting predictive accuracy estimates were internally validated with 200 bootstrap re-samples. RESULTS: The mean (range across institutions) age of the patients was 65 (48-69) years and 75 (67-87)% were men. Cytology was positive in 19 (10-38)% of patients; recurrence was identified in 35 (27-54)% of patients. The sensitivity was 38-65% across institutions. Urinary cytology varied significantly in its ability to predict recurrence of bladder cancer. Institution-specific predictive accuracy adjusted for gender and age was 0.627-0.893. Stratifying by grade and stage only partly attenuated the discrepancies between centres. CONCLUSIONS: The variability of urinary cytology results was very appreciable among the 10 centres and ranged from poor (63%) to excellent (89%).