Table 2 Hazard ratios for all cancers associated with a two-point increment of the Mediterranean diet score by EPIC participating countries

From: Mediterranean dietary pattern and cancer risk in the EPIC cohort

 

Men

Women

Both sexes

 

Cases

HR a (95% CI)

Cases

HR b (95% CI)

Cases

HR a , b (95% CI)

Southern countries

 Greece

402

0.85 (0.76–0.96)

400

0.86 (0.76–0.97)

802

0.86 (0.79–0.94)

 Spain

938

0.94 (0.86–1.01)

999

1.05 (0.97–1.14)

1937

0.99 (0.94–1.05)

 Italy

735

0.97 (0.89–1.06)

1676

0.96 (0.91–1.02)

2411

0.97 (0.92–1.02)

 France

  

6514

0.98 (0.95–1.01)

6514

0.98 (0.95–1.01)

 Overall

2075

0.93 (0.88–0.99)

9589

0.98 (0.95–1.00)

11 537

0.97 (0.95–0.99)

Northern countries

 United Kingdom

1689

1.02 (0.97–1.08)

2907

0.96 (0.92–1.02)

4596

0.98 (0.95–1.02)

 The Netherlands

311

0.93 (0.81–1.08)

1667

0.96 (0.90–1.02)

1978

0.96 (0.90–1.01)

 Germany

1395

1.01 (0.94–1.08)

1299

0.94 (0.88–1.01)

2694

0.98 (0.93–1.02)

 Sweden

2324

0.98 (0.93–1.04)

2286

0.96 (0.91–1.01)

4610

0.97 (0.93–1.01)

 Denmark

1875

0.90 (0.86–0.95)

2161

0.93 (0.88–0.98)

4036

0.92 (0.89–0.95)

 Norway

  

1153

0.98 (0.91–1.07)

1153

0.98 (0.91–1.07)

 Overall

7594

0.97 (0.94–0.99)

11 473

0.95 (0.93–0.98)

19 067

0.96 (0.94–0.98)

P for heterogeneity between groups of countries

 

0.27

 

0.10

 

0.48

 Overall

9669

0.97 (0.95–1.00)

21 062

0.96 (0.95–0.98)

30 731

0.96 (0.95–0.98)

 Overall unadjustedc

9669

0.95 (0.92–0.97)

21 062

0.96 (0.95–0.98)

30 731

0.96 (0.94–0.97)

 Overall without Greeced

9267

0.97 (0.95–1.00)

20 662

0.96 (0.95–0.98)

29 929

0.97 (0.95–0.98)

  1. Abbreviations: CI=confidence interval; EPIC=European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition; HR=hazard ratio.
  2. aStratified by centre and (for both sexes) sex, and adjusted for smoking status, duration of smoking, education, height, body mass index, total energy intake, physical activity.
  3. bAdjusted for all the above variables, and age at menarche, parity, menopausal status, oral contraceptive and hormone therapy use.
  4. cAnalyses were only stratified by centre and (for both sexes) sex.
  5. dResults for the Greek EPIC cohort were published previously (Benetou et al, 2008) and were excluded to present new results separately.
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