title: Cancer in the mothers and siblings of testicular cancer patients.
abstract: Some families seem to have an increased risk of several different cancers and a reduced risk of others. Either genetic predisposition or a shared environment may explain this familial clustering, and the type of cause can affect how family members should be advised. We used data from a case-control study to examine the risk of cancer in the mother, sisters and brothers of men with testicular cancer. Our results show a significant relative risk (RR=1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05-2.6) of cancer for sisters of testicular cancer patients in comparison with the sisters of controls. When data were combined for brothers and sisters, the RR for all cancers was 1.53 (CI: 1.1-2.3). Despite the limitations of our data, there is evidence for cancer clustering in the families of testicular cancer patients. Unfortunately, the evidence is consistent with either a genetic or environmental etiology.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Control Research, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Bajdik
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huchcroft
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gallagher
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012306:Risk; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*