Family history of malignancies and risk of breast cancer: prospective data from the Shanghai women’
June 27th, 2008 | by admin |Family history of malignancies and risk of breast cancer: prospective data from the Shanghai women\’s health study.
A population-based cohort study was conducted in Shanghai, China, to investigate the relationship between family cancer history in first-degree relatives and risk of breast cancer. A total of 570 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were identified from the cohort of 73,222 women during the follow-up period. Breast cancer risk was elevated (RR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.10-2.73) for those with a family history of breast cancer and the risk was stronger for women who were younger than 55 years (RR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.17-3.64). In addition, a significantly increased risk was observed for women with a family history of leukemia (RR = 2.06; 95% CI: 1.02-4.15) and among younger women, those who reported having a family history of any cancer (RR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.10-1.82), lung cancer (RR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.12-2.65), and esophageal cancer (RR = 2.99, 95% CI: 1.62-5.51). This cohort study suggests that, as previously observed in high risk populations, family history plays an important role in breast cancer also in a low risk population. The link between breast cancer risk and family history of cancers of the lung and esophagus, as well as leukemia, warrants further investigation.
Kilfoy BA, Zhang Y, Shu XO, Gao YT, Ji BT, Yang G, Li HL, Rothman N, Chow WH, Zheng W.
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, 60 College Street, LEPH 440, P.O. Box 208034, New Haven, CT, 06520-8034, USA.