Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Apr;19(4):960-5.
doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-10-0061. Epub 2010 Mar 16.

Pooling biomarker data from different studies of disease risk, with a focus on endogenous hormones

Timothy J Key  1 , Paul N Appleby, Naomi E Allen, Gillian K Reeves
Affiliations
Review

Pooling biomarker data from different studies of disease risk, with a focus on endogenous hormones

Timothy J Key et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

Large numbers of observations are needed to provide adequate power in epidemiologic studies of biomarkers and cancer risk. However, there are currently few large mature studies with adequate numbers of cases with biospecimens available. Therefore, pooling biomarker measures from different studies is a valuable approach, enabling investigators to make robust estimates of risk and to examine associations in subgroups of the population. The ideal situation is to have standardized methods in all studies so that the biomarker data can be pooled in their original units. However, even when the studies do not have standardized methods, as with existing studies on hormones and cancer, a simple approach using study-specific quantiles or percentage increases can provide substantial information on the relationship of the biomarker with cancer risk.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Median circulating estradiol concentrations (inter-quartile ranges) for postmenopausal control women from studies in the Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (3,4).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Median circulating biomarker concentrations (inter-quartile ranges), and relative medians (inter-quartile ranges) for control men in nested case-control studies of prostate cancer from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (8-12). SHBG = sex hormone binding globulin; IGF-I = insulin-like growth factor-I, DHA = Docosahexaenoic acid.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Prospective Studies Collaboration. Lewington S, Whitlock G, Clarke R, et al. Blood cholesterol and vascular mortality by age, sex, and blood pressure: a meta-analysis of individual data from 61 prospective studies with 55,000 vascular deaths. Lancet. 2007;370:1829–39. - PubMed
    1. Santen RJ, Lee JS, Wang S, et al. Potential role of ultra-sensitive estradiol assays in estimating the risk of breast cancer and fractures. Steroids. 2008;73:1318–21. - PubMed
    1. Endogenous Hormones and Breast Cancer Collaborative Group Endogenous sex hormones and breast cancer in postmenopausal women: reanalysis of nine prospective studies. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2002;94:606–16. - PubMed
    1. Kaaks R, Rinaldi S, Key TJ, et al. Postmenopausal serum androgens, oestrogens and breast cancer risk: the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition. Endocr Relat Cancer. 2005;12:1071–82. - PubMed
    1. Lee JS, Ettinger B, Stanczyk FZ, et al. Comparison of methods to measure low serum estradiol levels in postmenopausal women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006;91:3791–7. - PubMed

Publication types