California Teachers Study | Study Findings: Colon Cancer

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COLON CANCER

A 2013 study of CTS participants found that current smokers had an approximately 30% increased risk of colorectal cancer compared with never smokers. Among participants who were former smokers, risks appeared to remain elevated for up to 20 years after participants quit smoking. Read more here.
Among CTS participants, the amount of meat consumed before colon cancer diagnosis was not associated with colorectal cancer (CRC)-specific mortality. This 2010 study also found that regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) was associated with decreased CRC-specific mortality among participants who consumed 0 to 5.4 medium-sized serving of meat per week, but not among patients with higher meat consumption. Read more here.

A 2007 study found that lifetime recreational physical activity reduced colon cancer risk among postmenopausal CTS participants who had never used hormone therapy. Read more here.
A 2009 study found that prediagnosis use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for a long duration of time (>or=5 years) or regularly (1-3 days a week, 4-6 days a week, and daily) decreased mortality in women with colon cancer. Read more here.
A 2010 study found that CTS participants who used menopausal hormone therapy at the time of the baseline questionnaire had a lower risk of invasive colon cancer. Estimated risk was lower among participants who used menopausal hormone therapy between 5 and 15 years. Read more here.
In this 2019 study, consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) was not associated with colorectal cancer risk. However, the biological effects of high SSB consumption make it important to continue to evaluate whether SSBs are associated with CRC. Read more here.
This 2020 study analyzed data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of European ancestry to estimate the number of common susceptibility variants (polygenicity) for 14 different cancers. The analysis demonstrated that polygenic risk scores (PRS) have potential for risk stratification for breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Read more here.
This study analyzed the association between outdoor artificial light at night and risk of three most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes—diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL)—in the California Teachers Study. Researchers found that the risk of DLBCL was elevated for women living in neighborhoods with greater artificial light at night. Read more here.