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
Briseis A
BA
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8034, USA.
Zhang
Yawei
Y
Shu
Xiao-Ou
XO
Gao
Yu-Tang
YT
Ji
Bu-Tian
BT
Yang
Gong
G
Li
Hong Lan
HL
Rothman
Nathaniel
N
Chow
Wong-Ho
WH
Zheng
Wei
W
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data