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.
School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8034, USA.
Briseis A
BA
Kilfoy
Yawei
Y
Zhang
Xiao-Ou
XO
Shu
Yu-Tang
YT
Gao
Bu-Tian
BT
Ji
Gong
G
Yang
Hong Lan
HL
Li
Nathaniel
N
Rothman
Wong-Ho
WH
Chow
Wei
W
Zheng
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