title: Parity and colorectal cancer risk in women.
abstract: A case-control study is reported of reproductive history and colorectal cancer risk based on information obtained from interviews with white women 40--79 years old who were admitted to Roswell Park Memorial Institute between the years 1957 and 1965. Women with the primary diagnosis of carcinoma of the colon (n = 284) and carcinoma of the rectum (n = 270) did not differ significantly in their prior reproductive histories as compared to those of a control group of women (n = 1,763) with nonneoplastic diseases not affecting the breast or reproductive sites. The peritinent literature suggesting a parity--colorectal cancer association in women is reviewed. The conclusion reached is that the evidence for a parity-colorectal cancer association is equivocal; but that if such an association exists, it is probably weaker than that seen for cancers of the breast, ovary, and uterine corpus.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012306:Risk