Family history of cancer and the risk of endometrial cancer

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between family history of cancer in first-degree relatives and the risk of endometrial cancer, we carried out a large multicentre case-control study in Italy between 1992 and 2006, including 454 endometrial cancer cases and 908 controls admitted in hospital for acute, non-neoplastic diseases. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI). Relative to women with no family history of uterine cancer, the ORs were 2.1 (95% CI: 0.7-6.4) for those reporting a family history of endometrial cancer and 1.8 (95% CI: 1.0-3.2) for a family history of any uterine cancer. A family history of intestinal cancer was directly associated with endometrial cancer risk (OR=1.6; 95% CI: 1.0-2.7). Direct associations were found for a few other cancer sites. In conclusion, a family history of endometrial, uterine or intestinal cancer in first-degree relatives is associated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer.

Screening for gynaecologic cancers in genetically predisposed women

“…The existence of a genetic mutation in the known or unknown cancer genes that were not included in the test cannot be excluded and inherited susceptibility remains a possibility. A simple family history of ovarian cancer will increase the risk for the same disease three to four times, while endometrial cancer risk is increased by around two times according to existing literature [37,38]. On the other hand, testing positive for a cancer predisposing genetic mutation can confer extremely high risks for both ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer.…”

Family History and Risk of Endometrial Cancer

“…9 Two studies estimated risk of endometrial cancer stratified by age at diagnosis of endometrial cancer in a first-degree relative. 12,17 A large cohort study 17 reported a higher risk of endometrial cancer for women with a first-degree relative with younger age at diagnosis of endometrial cancer, whereas a small casecontrol study 12 reported no evidence of a difference in endometrial cancer risk by age at diagnosis in the relative. Only one study estimated risk of endometrial cancer by the number of affected first-degree relatives and reported a higher risk of endometrial cancer for women with a higher number of affected first-degree relatives.…”

“…Nine studies 6,7,9,10,[12][13][14][15]17 estimated an association between family history of colorectal cancer and risk of endometrial cancer (Fig. 4).…”

“…Of the 10 case-control studies, four used hospital attendees without any cancer diagnosis as control participants. 4,8,12,13 Five studies estimated risk of endometrial cancer associated with a family history of cancer up to seconddegree relatives 9,13,14,17,23 and one study estimated risk up to third-degree relatives. 16 Of the 14 studies that reported an association between a family history of endometrial cancer and risk of endometrial cancer, 4-17 nine reported clear evidence for an increased risk of endometrial cancer for women with at least one first-degree relative with endometrial cancer compared with those without a family history.…”

“…3 Several studies have reported an increased risk of endometrial cancer for women with at least one firstdegree relative (mother, sisters, or daughters) affected with endometrial cancer; however, risk estimates have been inconsistent. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Furthermore, some studies have estimated associations of risk of endometrial cancer with familial clustering of cancers of the colon, rectum, breast, ovary, and cervix, and these estimates have also been inconsistent. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][12][13][14][15]17,23,24 Despite the attention directed toward the potential role of family history in endometrial cancer risk, quantification of relative risk (RR) of cancer specific to site in first-degree relatives has not been adequately determined.…”