RATIONALE: Learning about the risk factors for endometrial cancer in black women may help the study of endometrial cancer in the future.

PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying risk factors for endometrial cancer in black women.

OBJECTIVES:

• Establish and evaluate procedures for conducting a hospital-based case-control study of risk factors for endometrial cancer in black women.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

Participants complete questionnaires about lifestyle factors and their usual diet and measure their waist and hips. Saliva or buccal specimens are collected for future research.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL:

• A total of 30 cases and 30 controls will be accrued for this study.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Cases

  • Diagnosed with endometrial cancer within the past year
  • Self-identified as being black, African-American, black Hispanic, African, or Afro-Caribbean

• Healthy controls

  • Self-identified as being black, African-American, black Hispanic, African, or Afro-Caribbean
  • No history of endometrial or other cancer (except non-melanoma skin cancer)
  • No prior hysterectomy

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Speak English
• No medical condition that would make it difficult to complete the interview

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics

Black women (including African-American, African, Afro-Caribbean women) with endometrial cancer and controls will be recruited at MSKCC, SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center hospitals. Controls will be black (including African-American, African, Afro-Caribbean) women without history of cancer, who have intact uteri, and will be identified in gynecology clinics. Controls will also be recruited at the Breast Examination Center of Harlem (BECH), an affiliate of MSKCC, providing high quality screening services to a minority community.