Selected Articles from This Issue

The cancer incidence initially reported by cancer registries for a given diagnosis year is an undercount, but it is updated in subsequent submissions. This article by Chen and colleagues proposes a delay model to adjust the case count for anticipated corrections to the data, with the aim of producing timely and unbiased cancer incidence rates and trends. This model has evolved to meet the changing needs of US and Canadian population-based registries. It reveals that reporting delays vary by cancer site, race and ethnicity. The model is being used to further shorten the interval between when cases are diagnosed and when they are officially reported.The impact of longitudinal changes in obesity and abdominal obesity on endometrial cancer risk in young women has not been well established. In this nationwide Korean cohort study of nearly one million women ages 20 to 39 years, Heo and colleagues assessed three-year interval changes in obesity and abdominal obesity. Persistent obesity conferred the highest risk, followed by transitions from obese to non-obese and from non-obese to obese. Abdominal obesity changes showed stronger associations than general obesity. These findings underscore the importance of sustained obesity management to reduce early-onset endometrial cancer.A comprehensive inflammatory lifestyle score (CILS) incorporating both dietary and non-dietary factors is lacking. This study by Zheng and colleagues aimed to develop and validate CILS and assess its association with colorectal cancer risk using data from the UK Biobank. In the application cohort, CILS showed significant positive associations with colorectal cancer incidence and mortality risks, as well as all its subtypes, except for incident rectal cancer. These findings support CILS as an effective tool for comprehensively assessing an individual’s lifestyle, with regard to its inflammatory potential, with promising applications in lifestyle modification to reduce chronic inflammation and promote cancer prevention.Current evidence suggests an increased risk for cancer mortality in those with low aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR) DNA methylation (DNAm) levels. In this population-based study in Japan by Tsuboi and colleagues, the aim was to integrate the smoking-related indices of smoking intensity and years since quitting with AHRR DNAm levels in leukocytes to estimate cancer mortality. The population with low AHRR DNAm levels had a higher risk of cancer mortality even with low smoking exposure. Furthermore, no significant risk reduction was observed in former smokers with low AHRR DNAm levels. AHRR DNAm levels in leukocytes may help identify groups at risk for cancer mortality overlooked by questionnaire-based smoking indices.