Family history of cancer and risk for esophageal and gastric cancer in Shanxi, China.
BACKGROUND
Family history (FH) by different relative types and risk of upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancers has been only rarely reported; the data on UGI cancer survival are sparse.


METHODS
600 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cases, 598 gastric cardia adenocarcinoma cases, and 316 gastric non-cardia adenocarcinoma cases, and 1514 age-, gender-, and neighborhood-matched controls were asked for FH in first degree relatives and non-blood relatives. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from logistic regressions, and hazard ratios (HRs) from Cox proportional hazard regressions were estimated.


RESULTS
Increased ESCC risk was associated with FH of any cancer (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.39-2.12), FH of any UGI cancer (OR = 2.28, 95%CI = 1.77-2.95) and FH of esophageal cancer (OR = 2.84, 95%CI = 2.09-3.86), but not FH of non-UGI cancer. Individuals with two or more affected first-degree relatives had 10-fold increased ESCC risk. FH of gastric cardia cancer was associated with an increased risk of all three cancers. Cancer in non-blood relatives was not associated with risk of any UGI cancer. FH of UGI cancer was associated with a poorer survival rate among younger ESCC cases (HR = 1.82, 95%CI = 1.01-3.29).


CONCLUSIONS
These data provide strong evidence that shared susceptibility is involved in esophageal carcinogenesis and also suggest a role in prognosis.
Gao
Ying
Y
Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20852, USA. gaoying@mail.nih.gov
Hu
Nan
N
Han
XiaoYou
X
Giffen
Carol
C
Ding
Ti
T
Goldstein
Alisa
A
Taylor
Philip
P
D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D016896:Treatment Outcome