American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on July 8, 2008
American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 168(4):469; doi:10.1093/aje/kwn197
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BOOK REVIEW |
Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention. Third Edition
Edited by David Schottenfeld and Joseph F. Fraumeni, Jr.
School of Public Health, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, LA 70112
(e-mail: efonth{at}lsuhsc.edu)
ISBN-13:978-0-19-514961-6, Oxford University Press, New York New York (Telephone: 800-445-9714, FAX: 919-677-1303, E-mail: custserv.us{at}oup.com), 2006, 1392 pp., $230.00 Hardcover
The third edition of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention meets the high expectations of readers of the first two editions. Editors David Schottenfeld and Joseph Fraumeni have not rested on their laurels. They have assembled three new associate editors—Graham Colditz, Jonathan Samet, and Alice Whittemore—and a host of new contributing authors for many of the chapters. These new contributors have brought fresh insights and updates to the book, reflecting substantial accrual of knowledge during the decade spanning editions 2 and 3. Despite new content, the coherent organizational format of the previous edition has been maintained: five sections beginning with basic concepts of cancer epidemiology and carcinogenesis followed by the magnitude of cancer, the causes of cancer, cancer by tissue of origin, and cancer prevention and control.
Part I, "Basic Concepts," provides an overview of the rapidly evolving scientific knowledge related to carcinogenesis. The basic concepts of causality and interpretation of epidemiologic data are concisely and well described and are unlikely to change dramatically between editions, while the material on cancer biology, genetics, molecular events, and cancer precursors undoubtedly will. Nevertheless, these topics as presented reflect the current state of knowledge at the time of writing, and a book such as this is not expected to be all-inclusive while covering a myriad of important topics.
The "Magnitude of Cancer" section includes all of the topics one would expect on cancer counts, rates, and comparisons—that is, incidence, mortality, survival, and international variation. A chapter on socioeconomic status disparities in cancer incidence and mortality replaces the more traditional chapter on cancer in racial and ethnic minority groups that was in the previous edition. This change reflects growing recognition that race/ethnicity is an inadequate proxy for socioeconomic status and that reliance on this more easily obtained measure may be misleading. A chapter on the economic impact of cancer in the United States has been included in all three editions of the book. This chapter has particular appeal because economics and health-care costs are not always addressed in epidemiology texts, but they can hardly be ignored because of their impact on cancer outcomes. Access to high-quality, affordable care across the continuum of cancer care has become more and more problematic.
The next two sections, on causes of cancer and cancer by tissue of origin, provide a remarkable resource for researchers and educators alike. Over the past 2 months I updated or prepared new lectures for a cancer epidemiology course. Whether the topic was a specific risk factor for cancer or the epidemiology of organ-specific cancers, I found the relevant chapters to be uniformly helpful. One example is the chapter on pancreatic cancer. The authors have written comprehensively about possible risk factors for cancer of the pancreas. For cancers such as pancreatic cancer which have poorly defined etiologies and few well-established causal factors with none accounting for substantial increases in risk, the exhaustive compendium is of value. For cancers with well-established substantive causal factors, such an approach would not be necessary. A more in-depth consideration of those major causes is warranted. For the most part, that is the approach taken by the authors of chapters in section IV.
The final five chapters in the last section of the book conclude with topics relevant to cancer prevention and control. This is a natural extension of the material presented in the majority of the book, namely cancer epidemiology. As Rimer and Hiatt note in chapter 67, "Epidemiology provides a substantial component of the scientific evidence for the development of preventive, including behavioral, interventions by explaining the contributions of biological, psychological, and social factors to cancer etiology" (p. 1287). The following chapter posits provocative arguments for even greater commitment of epidemiologists, in their research, to the public health goal of primary prevention. The concluding chapters address risk communication and risk comprehension, principles of screening, chemoprevention, and finally an overview of governmental regulatory approaches to limiting exposure to carcinogens—a strong concluding section in a massive tome that is a testament to the disciplines of cancer epidemiology and prevention.
As was true for previous editions, this book is the definitive reference book for budding and experienced cancer epidemiologists alike. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the field for interested doctoral students and new investigators and is an invaluable reference for the experienced researcher.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Conflict of interest: none declared.
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