New England Study of Environment and Health

The New England Study of Environment and Health is a population-based case-control study designed to examine environmental and other factors that may affect the development of urinary bladder cancer in men and women between the ages of 30 and 79 in New England.

The study will investigate many risk factors including cigarette smoking, occupational exposures, dietary factors, medications, fluid intake and urination habits, medical conditions, and environmental exposures. The primary objective is to determine the reasons for excess bladder cancer mortality and incidence in three states: New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

Collaborators

Investigators from the National Cancer Institute, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, the Maine Bureau of Health, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, the Vermont Department of Health, and Westat are conducting the study.

Study design

  • Methods
    A population-based case-control study in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine
    • Bladder Cancer Cases (n=1200)
      Histologically-confirmed incident cases including carcinoma in situ
    • Population Controls (n=1200)
      Frequency matched to age at diagnosis, race, and gender distribution of cancer patients in each state
  • Self-administered questionnaires – calendar to collect residential and occupational histories, diet history questionnaire, urinary habits diary
  • Computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) – demographics, water use history, tobacco use, fluid intake and dietary supplement use, hair coloring product use, medical history, family history of cancer, occupational history modules
  • Sample collection – drinking water samples, biological samples (toenails, buccal cells, urine, blood), GPS measures.

For more information, contact Richard Waddell DSc.