Cancer Surveillance and Pharmacoepidemiology

The group Cancer Surveillance and Pharmacoepidemiology uses high-quality Nordic registry data as basis for their research.

Within the Cancer Surveillance Program, registry data is processed on cancer incidence, prevalence, mortality, and survival statistics. Questions are addressed such as: how is “diagnoses of new cancer influenced during the COVID-19 pandemic”. 

Ongoing projects include Nordic studies aiming for identification of reasons for differences in cancer survival between the countries, and international collaborative research projects including, e.g. CONCORD-3, and SurvMark-2. 

The group also reports descriptive data on cancer statistics through, e.g., NORDCAN; an interactive and user-friendly web-based tool (www.ancr.nu), and collaborate with the Danish Health Data Board on survival statistics based on the Danish Cancer Register.

The group coordinates the Nordic Summer School in Cancer Epidemiology, and lectures in cancer- and pharmacoepidemiology.

Within the Pharmacoepidemiological Research Program, we use Danish and Nordic registry data to investigate safety, risks and benefits of drugs in relation to cancer and other outcomes. Current drug candidates include (among others) female hormones, antidiabetic drugs, aspirin and other NSAIDs, and drug exposure in early pregnancy.

Ongoing projects include safety studies of drug use in women and in children after drug exposure in pregnancy. We are also interested in potential carcinogenic effects of drug use, and we have an array of studies focusing on possibilities of repurposing of drugs with potential anti-cancer effects, whether in cancer prevention or as beneficial effects on cancer prognosis.

We are currently seeking to improve methods of exploring prognostic effects of drug use within a general screening program aimed at identifying associations between commonly used non-cancer drugs and cancer prognosis, with aim of identifying candidates for repurposing of drugs in cancer therapy. Potential candidates will be sought evaluated in laboratory studies.  

Selected publications: 

Arnold M, Rutherford MJ, Bardot A, Ferlay J, Andersson TM, Myklebust TA, Tervonen H, Thursfield V, Ransom D, Shack L, Woods RR, Turner D, Leonfellner S, Ryan S, Saint-Jacques N, De P, McClure C, Ramanakumar AV, Stuart-Panko H, Engholm G, Walsh PM, Jackson C, Vernon S, Morgan E, Gavin A, Morrison DS, Huws DW, Porter G, Butler J, Bryant H, Currow DC, Hiom S, Parkin DM, Sasieni P, Lambert PC, Moller B, Soerjomataram I, Bray F: Progress in cancer survival, mortality, and incidence in seven high-income countries 1995-2014 (ICBP SURVMARK-2): a population-based study. Lancet Oncol 2019;20(11):1493-1505

Skriver C, Dehlendorff C, Borre M, Brasso K, Larsen SB, Dalton SO, Nørgaard M, Pottegard A, Hallas J, Sørensen HT, Friis S: Use of Low-Dose Aspirin and Mortality After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: A Nationwide Cohort Study. Ann Intern Med 2019;170(7):443-452

Løkkegaard ECL, Mørch LS: Tibolone and risk of gynecological hormone sensitive cancer. Int J Cancer 2018;142(12):2435-2440

Mørch LS, Skovlund CW, Hannaford PC, Iversen L, Fielding S, Lidegaard Ø: Contemporary Hormonal Contraception and the Risk of Breast Cancer. N Engl J Med 2017;377(23):2228-2239

Andreassen BK, Støer NC, Martinsen JI, Ursin G, Weiderpass E, Thoresen GH, Debernard KB, Karlstad Ø, Pottegård A, Friis S: Identification of potential carcinogenic and chemopreventive effects of prescription drugs: a protocol for a Norwegian registry-based study. BMJ Open 2019;9(4)