Publications by authors named "H K van Halteren"

Background: Folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism requires several nutrients, including vitamin B6. Circulating levels of biomarkers indicating high vitamin B6 status are associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, little is known about the effect of B6 status in relation to clinical outcomes in CRC patients.

Objectives: We investigated survival outcomes in relation to vitamin B6 status in prospectively followed CRC patients.

Methods: A total of 2031 patients with stage I-III CRC participated in six prospective patient cohorts in the international FOCUS Consortium. Preoperative blood samples were used to measure vitamin B6 status by the direct marker pyridoxal 5'-phosphate, PLP, as well as functional marker the HK-ratio (3'-hydroxykynurenine: [kynurenic acid + xanthurenic acid + 3'-hydroxy anthranilic acid + anthranilic acid]). Using Cox proportional hazards regression, we examined associations of vitamin B6 status with overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and risk of recurrence, adjusted for patient age, sex, circulating creatinine levels, tumor site, stage, and cohort.

Results: After a median follow-up of 3.2 years for OS, higher preoperative vitamin B6 status as assessed by PLP and the functional marker HKr was associated with 16-32% higher all-cause and disease-free survival, although there was no significant association with disease recurrence (doubling in PLP concentration: hazard ratio, HROS, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.59,0.79; HRDFS, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.75,0.94; HRRecurrence, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.84,1.09; HKr: HROS, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.67,2.49; HRDFS, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.31,1.85; HRRecurrence, 1.21; 95% CI, 0.96,1.52). The association of PLP with improved OS was consistent across colorectal tumor site (right-sided colon: HROS, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.59,0.96; left-sided colon: HROS, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.55,0.92; rectosigmoid junction and rectum: HROS, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47,0.78).

Conclusion: Higher preoperative vitamin B6 status is associated with improved OS among stage I-III CRC patients.

Background: The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2021 conference provided a high number of randomized phase III trial reports, many of which were claimed to be practice changing. Given the short time available for conference presentations, results and conclusions tend to have greatest priority with less time remaining for study background and study methodology.

Purpose: On behalf of the ESMO Practicing Oncologists Working Group, 11 potentially practice-changing reports were selected and screened for three main questions: (i) Did the investigators provide sufficient details with regard to Patients and Methods to make the results comprehensible? (ii) Were there any reasons to consider bias? (iii) To which extent did the results presented translate to clinical benefit?

Results: In 2 out of 11 trials, the study design presented differed considerably from the study design described at ClinicalTrials.gov. Allocation concealment was not carried out in 6 out of 11 trials. In none of the trials reporting progression-free survival was informative censoring considered an issue. In none of the trials reporting overall survival was desirable crossover considered an issue. Defined trial outcome measures depicted at ClinicalTrials.gov, which could boost or weaken the ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale score, were often lacking in the presentation. Study success was claimed in a heterogeneous manner, which was often not clearly linked to overall clinical benefit.

Conclusion: ESMO conference presentations can inform the scientific community and catalyze further research but cannot replace the full papers in peer-reviewed journals, which are needed to estimate the thoroughness of the results, the overall impact on clinical benefit and the consequences for future treatment guidelines.

Importance: Postoperative complications are associated with increased morbidity and mortality among patients with colorectal cancer. As a modifiable factor associated with gut health, dietary fiber intake is of interest with regard to the risk of complications after surgery for colorectal cancer.

Objective: To examine the association between preoperative dietary fiber intake and risk of complications after surgery for colorectal cancer.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used data from the Colorectal Longitudinal, Observational Study on Nutritional and Lifestyle Factors (COLON) study, which recruited adult patients with colorectal cancer at any stage at diagnosis from 11 hospitals in the Netherlands between August 2010 and December 2017. The present study included patients with stage I to IV colorectal cancer who underwent elective abdominal surgery. Data were analyzed between December 2019 and September 2020.

Exposures: Habitual dietary fiber intake was assessed at diagnosis using a 204-item food frequency questionnaire.

Main Outcomes And Measures: Any complications, surgical complications, and anastomotic leakage occurring during the 30 days after surgery for colorectal cancer. The association between fiber intake and risk of postoperative complications was assessed using logistic regression analyses. Additional analyses stratified by sex, tumor location, and fiber source were performed.

Results: Among the 1399 patients included in the analysis, the median age at inclusion was 66 years (interquartile range, 61-72 years) and 896 (64%) were men. Any complications occurred in 397 patients (28%), and surgical complications occurred in 235 patients (17%). Of 1237 patients with an anastomosis, 67 (5%) experienced anastomotic leakage. Higher dietary fiber intake (per 10 g per day) was associated with a lower risk of any complications (odds ratio [OR], 0.75; 95% CI, 0.62-0.92) and surgical complications (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.60-0.97), whereas no association with anastomotic leakage was found (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.66-1.43). Among women, higher dietary intake was associated with any complications (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.44-0.94), whereas there was no association among men (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.63-1.01). Fiber intake from vegetables (per 1 g per day) was inversely associated with any (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.83-0.99) and surgical (OR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.78-0.97) complications.

Conclusions And Relevance: In this cohort study, higher habitual dietary fiber intake before surgery was associated with a lower risk of postoperative complications among patients with colorectal cancer. The findings suggest that improving preoperative dietary fiber intake may be considered in future prehabilitation programs for patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer.

Current lifestyle recommendations for cancer survivors are the same as those for the general public to decrease their risk of cancer. However, it is unclear which lifestyle behaviors are most important for prognosis. We aimed to identify which lifestyle behaviors were most important regarding colorectal cancer (CRC) recurrence and all-cause mortality with a data-driven method. The study consisted of 1180 newly diagnosed stage I-III CRC patients from a prospective cohort study. Lifestyle behaviors included in the current recommendations, as well as additional lifestyle behaviors related to diet, physical activity, adiposity, alcohol use, and smoking were assessed six months after diagnosis. These behaviors were simultaneously analyzed as potential predictors of recurrence or all-cause mortality with Random Survival Forests (RSFs). We observed 148 recurrences during 2.6-year median follow-up and 152 deaths during 4.8-year median follow-up. Higher intakes of sugary drinks were associated with increased recurrence risk. For all-cause mortality, fruit and vegetable, liquid fat and oil, and animal protein intake were identified as the most important lifestyle behaviors. These behaviors showed non-linear associations with all-cause mortality. Our exploratory RSF findings give new ideas on potential associations between certain lifestyle behaviors and CRC prognosis that still need to be confirmed in other cohorts of CRC survivors.

Background: An unhealthy lifestyle is associated with the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but it is unclear whether overall lifestyle after a CRC diagnosis is associated with risks of recurrence and mortality.

Objectives: To examine associations between postdiagnosis lifestyle and changes in lifestyle after a CRC diagnosis with risks of CRC recurrence and all-cause mortality.

Methods: The study population included 1425 newly diagnosed, stage I-III CRC patients from 2 prospective cohort studies enrolled between 2010 and 2016. Lifestyle, including BMI, physical activity, diet, and alcohol intake, was assessed at diagnosis and at 6 months postdiagnosis. We assigned lifestyle scores based on concordance with 2 sets of cancer prevention guidelines-from the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) and the American Cancer Society (ACS)-and national disease prevention guidelines. Higher scores indicate healthier lifestyles. We computed adjusted HRs and 95% CIs using Cox regression.

Results: We observed 164 recurrences during a 2.8-year median follow-up and 171 deaths during a 4.4-year median follow-up. No associations were observed for CRC recurrence. A lifestyle more consistent with the ACS recommendations was associated with a lower all-cause mortality risk (HR per +1 SD, 0.85; 95% CI: 0.73-0.995). The same tendency was observed for higher WCRF/AICR (HR, 0.92; 95% CI: 0.78-1.08) and national (HR, 0.90; 95% CI: 0.77-1.05) lifestyle scores, although these associations were statistically nonsignificant. Generally, no statistically significant associations were observed for BMI, physical activity, diet, or alcohol. Improving one's lifestyle after diagnosis (+1 SD) was associated with a lower all-cause mortality risk for the ACS (HR, 0.80; 95% CI: 0.67-0.96) and national (HR, 0.84; 95% CI: 0.70-0.999) scores, yet was statistically nonsignificant for the WCRF/AICR score (HR, 0.94; 95% CI: 0.78-1.13).

Conclusions: A healthy lifestyle after CRC diagnosis and improvements therein were not associated with the risk of CRC recurrence, but were associated with a decreased all-cause mortality risk.