Family History of Cancer and Head and Neck Cancer Risk in a Chinese Population

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether family history of cancer is associated with head and neck cancer risk in a Chinese population. Materials and Methods: This case-control study included 921 cases and 806 controls. Recruitment was from December 2010 to January 2015 in eight centers in East Asia. Controls were matched to cases with reference to sex, 5-year age group, ethnicity, and residence area at each of the centers. Results: We observed an increased risk of head and neck cancer due to first degree family history of head and neck cancer, but after adjustment for tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking and betel quid chewing the association was no longer apparent. The adjusted OR were 1.10 (95% CI=0.80-1.50) for family history of tobacco-related cancer and 0.96 (95%CI=0.75-1.24) for family history of any cancer with adjustment for tobacco, betel quid and alcohol habits. The ORs for having a first-degree relative with HNC were higher in all tobacco/ alcohol subgroups. Conclusions: We did not observe a strong association between family history of head and neck cancer and head and neck cancer risk after taking into account lifestyle factors. Our study suggests that an increased risk due to family history of head and neck cancer may be due to shared risk factors. Further studies may be needed to assess the lifestyle factors of the relatives.

Familial cancer risk in family members and spouses of patients with early‐onset head and neck cancer

“…19 Huang et al did not observe a strong association between family history of HNC and HNC risk after taking into account lifestyle factors (tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and betel quid chewing) in a Chinese population comprising 921 cases. 20 When focusing on early-onset HNC, our results are in line with Mork et al who reported no increased risk of HNC or esophagus and lung cancers for first-degree relatives of patients diagnosed with HNC at age ≤45. The study comprised, however, only 127 HNC probands and risk estimates were not adjusted for risk factors.…”

“…18 Reported patterns of familial aggregation of HNC vary greatly, with many studies hampered by the restricted number of subjects and the comprehensible difficulty to distinguish between inherited and environmental risk factors. [19][20][21] Moreover, the incidence of early-onset HNC is low, covering less than 5% of all HNC cases, 4 and few centers have had the opportunity to address the question of familial cancer risk in this patient group separately, with conflicting results. 17,22 This dearth of data has resulted in only minimal inroads to elucidate the familial risk of HNC.…”

Identifying Risk Factors for Morbidity and Mortality in Patients with Primary Head and Neck Cancers in a Nigerian Population

“…Negri et al 21 in their study stated that positive family history confers a 1.68-fold increased risk for HNC and shared risk factors such as lifestyle have been implicated in causing this increased risk in individuals with a positive family history of HNC. 22 Periodontal disease 23 and exposure to wood dust are other established risk factors for HNC especially oropharyngeal and sinonasal cancers but this study did not find a relationship between these risk factors and any form of HNC.…”

Prognostic Value of a Family History of Oral Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Matched‐Pair Study

“…The findings support that an increased risk for head and neck SCC due to a family cancer history may be due to shared risk factors such as smoking. 4,6 Young patients with oral tongue SCC are relatively uncommon, but they are occasionally encountered in the clinic, although great controversy exists regarding the survival difference among young and old patients with oral tongue SCC. [19][20][21] A number of authors have reported that there are differences in risk factors between the two groups.…”

“…In clinics, although uncommon, patients with oral tongue SCC and other cancers sometimes come from the same family. Family history is regarded as an important risk factor for cancer development, and for most cancer sites, compared with those without a family history, individuals with a family history tend to have a two to three times greater risk for cancer occurrence . Similar trends have also been noted among patients with oral tongue SCC and other cancers, but there is very little evidence regarding the significance of a family history for predicting survival in patients with oral tongue SCC, and conflicting results have even been presented.…”