51O - The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition cohort (EPIC): A gateway to rare cancer epidemiological research – Insights from the EPIC Rare Cancers Working Group

Background

Despite its pivotal role in cancer epidemiology, the EPIC study's potential for rare cancer research has been underutilized, primarily due to the complexity of curating comprehensive data. The collaboration with the RARECAREnet project has enabled the utilization of EPIC's data for rare cancer investigations.

Methods

The EPIC study's cohort of over 500,000 participants, recruited across Europe, provided a rich data set of lifestyle, diet, and health information. Rare cancers were identified according to the RARECAREnet classification, which includes incidence-based categorization and detailed morphological and site-specific information. To maximize the utility of this data, an R shiny web application was developed, aimed at enabling data exploration.

Results

Among the EPIC participants, 8,851 rare cancer cases were identified, encompassing a wide range of cancer sites and morphologies. The basic descriptive epidemiology of these cases aligns with previously reported statistics, such as sex ratio and incidence rates. Crucially, the R shiny web application offers the ability to explore this database interactively. This tool is designed for preliminary data analysis and hypothesis testing, aiding researchers in assessing the feasibility and potential of initiating detailed epidemiological studies on specific rare cancers.

Conclusions

The EPIC rare cancers database, enhanced by the development of an interactive web application, represents a significant step forward in rare cancer research. It's vital to promote awareness of this resource within the research community, especially in light of the anticipated 2024 participant follow-up update, expected to yield critical sample sizes necessary for rare cancer studies and making it an essential tool for advancing research in this field.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.