A design for cancer case-control studies using only incident cases: Experience with the GEM study of melanoma

Colin Begg, Amanda J. Hummer, Urvi Mujumdar, Bruce K. Armstrong, Anne Kricker, Loraine D. Marrett, Robert C. Millikan, Stephen B. Gruber, Hoda Anton Culver, Roberto Zanetti, Richard P. Gallagher, Terrence Dwyer, Timothy R. Rebbeck, Klaus Busam, Lynn From, Marianne Berwick, Pampa Roy, Rebecca Canchola, Brian Clas, Javiar CotignolaYvette Monroe, Melisa Litchfield, Paul Tucker, Nicola Stephens, Teresa Switzer, Beth Theis, Noori Chowdhury, Louise Vanasse, Mark Purdue, David Northrup, Stefano Rosso, Carlotta Sacerdote, Nancy Leighton, Maureen Gildea, Joe Bonner, Joanne Jeter, Judith Klotz, Homer Wilcox, Helen Weiss, Nancy Thomas, Dianne Mattingly, Jon Player, Chiu Kit Tse, Peter Kanetsky, Amy Walker, Saarene Panossian, Harvey Mohrenweiser, Richard Setlow

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

66 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: The population-based case-control study is not suited to the evaluation of rare genetic (or environmental) factors. The use of a novel case-control design in which cases have second primaries and controls are cancer survivors has been proposed for this purpose. Methods: We report results from an international study of melanoma that involved population-based ascertainment of incident cases of second or subsequent primary melanoma as the 'case' group and incident cases of first primary melanoma as the 'control' group. We evaluate the validity of the study design by comparing the results obtained for phenotypic factors that have been shown consistently to be associated with melanoma in previous conventional studies with the results from a conventional case-control study conducted in Connecticut and from literature reviews. Results: All but one of the known risk factors for melanoma were shown to be significantly associated with melanoma in our study, though the individual odds ratios appear to be somewhat attenuated relative to the magnitudes typically observed in the literature. Conclusions: Patients with a second or subsequent primary cancer of a single type represent a potentially valuable and under-utilized resource for the study of cancer aetiology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)756-764
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Epidemiology
Volume35
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Case-control study
  • Case-only study
  • Melanoma

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology

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