Household food security and breast-feeding duration among Canadian Inuit.

OBJECTIVE: There have been few studies investigating the association between food security and breast-feeding duration and none have been conducted among Canadian Inuit, a population disproportionately burdened with food insecurity. We evaluated the association between household food security and breast-feeding duration in Canadian Inuit children. DESIGN: Data were obtained from the Nunavut Inuit Child Health Survey, a population-based cross-sectional survey. SETTING: The Canadian Territory of Nunavut in 2007 and 2008. SUBJECTS: Caregivers of Inuit children aged 3-5 years. Participating children were randomly sampled from community medical centre lists. RESULTS: Out of 215 children, 147 lived in food-insecure households (68·4 %). Using restricted mean survival time models, we estimated that children in food-secure households were breast-fed for 16·8 (95 % CI 12·5, 21·2) months and children in food-insecure households were breast-fed for 21·4 (95 % CI 17·9, 24·8) months. In models adjusting for social class, traditional knowledge and child health, household food security was not associated with breast-feeding duration (hazard ratio=0·82, 95 % CI 0·58, 1·14). CONCLUSIONS: Our research does not support the hypothesis that children living in food-insecure households were breast-fed for a longer duration than children living in food-secure households. However, we found that more than 50 % of mothers in food-insecure households continued breast-feeding well beyond 1 year. Many mothers in food-secure households also continued to breast-feed beyond 1 year. Given the high prevalence of food insecurity in Inuit communities, we need to ensure infants and their caregivers are being adequately nourished to support growth and breast-feeding, respectively.

Effects of non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory mediators have a role in the initiation and progression of prostate cancer. Observed anti-cancer effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have consisted largely of those that inhibit inflammatory mechanisms thought to promote an aggressive disease phenotype. Epidemiologic studies have supported a chemopreventive effect but there is little research on a possible protective role against prostate cancer aggressiveness and progression to advanced disease. METHODS: We conducted a population-based exploratory study, using cross-sectional and case-cohort approaches to assess, the effect of NSAIDs on indicators of prostate cancer aggressiveness. The study population consisted of 1,619 randomly selected patients with a further over-sampling of 453 prostate cancer mortality cases. All had been curatively treated by radical prostatectomy or external-beam radiotherapy and were sampled using the Ontario Cancer Registry. Aggressiveness of disease at diagnosis, represented by Gleason score, and risk of prostate cancer death were compared across NSAID exposure groups. RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratio (OR) of a total Gleason score of 8-10 versus 2-6 indicated a non-significant protective effect of NSAIDs (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.47-1.17). We did not observe an association with risk of prostate cancer death overall (HR: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.79-1.34), but a secondary analysis indicated that NSAID users surviving five years may be protected from early prostate cancer death (HR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.26-1.13). CONCLUSION: Although estimates were not statistically significant, this exploratory study indicates a possible negative association between NSAID use and disease aggressiveness. Larger investigations with more precise exposure measurements are recommended.