Family History of Hemolymphopoietic and Other Cancers and Risk of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Abstract

We investigated the risk of lymphomas, hemolymphopoietic (HLP) cancers (including lymphomas), and non-HLP cancers in first-degree relatives of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) cases in an Italian case-control study on 225 patients (median age, 59 years) with a new diagnosis of NHL and 504 hospital controls (median age, 63 years), admitted for a wide spectrum of acute, nonneoplastic, nonimmune conditions. We estimated odds ratios (OR) adjusted for sex, age, family size, and other potential confounders. We also built the cohort of all first-degree relatives and computed age and sex adjusted hazard ratios (HR) using proportional hazard models. A history of lymphoma in first-degree relatives was reported by 5 NHL cases and 3 controls [OR, 3.2; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.7-14.4] whereas 14 cases and 11 controls reported a family history of HLP cancers (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.2-7.0). The HR of relatives of NHL cases, compared with relatives of controls, was 4.5 (95% CI, 1.1-18.8) for lymphomas, 3.5 (95% CI, 1.5-7.4) for HLP cancers, 1.6 (95% CI, 1.3-2.0) for all cancers, and 1.0 (95% CI, 0.9-1.1) for all causes of deaths. The HRs were higher for relatives of NHL cases diagnosed before the age of 50 years: 7.1 for HLP cancers, 2.0 for all cancers, and 1.6 for all deaths. A family history of cancer of the liver (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.0-4.2), breast (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.0-3.6), and kidney (OR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.0-20.9) increased NHL risk. The OR was also elevated for all cancer sites (OR, 1.7 95% CI, 1.2-2.4) and the risk increased with the number of affected relatives also when HLP cancers were excluded. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(2):245 -50)

Family history of hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic malignancies and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma

“…Another study by Chang et al [10] reported a positive association between follicular lymphoma and family history of multiple myeloma. Three other studies did not find any significant association between family history of leukemia or multiple myeloma and risk of NHL [8,11,17].…”

“…These NHL subtypes may have very different etiologic profiles [7]. To date, although a number of studies have investigated the relationship between family cancer history and NHL risk [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], few studies have examined the relationship by NHL subtypes and by family history of specific cancer types.…”

The non-Hodgkin lymphomas: A review of the epidemiologic literature

“…Negri et al 478 reported significant positive associations of NHL with a first-degree family history of lymphoma (OR 5 3.2, 95% CI: 0.7-14.4), hematolymphoproliferative (HLP) cancers (OR 5 3.0, 95% CI: 1.2-7.0), and for all cancer sites combined (OR 5 1.7, 1.2-2.4). Zhu et al 479 observed a significantly elevated risk of NHL in men who reported a family history of lymphoma (OR 5 3.0, 95% CI: 1.7-5.2) and hematologic malignancies (OR 5 2.0, 95% CI: 1.2-3.4).…”

Family history of hematopoietic malignancies and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL): a pooled analysis of 10 211 cases and 11 905 controls from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph)

“…28 Study-specific information regarding participant recruitment for the 17 case-control member studies that contributed data are provided in Table 1. 13,15,18,19,[21][22][23]25,26,[29][30][31][32][33] Sixteen studies enrolled both men and women, whereas the Connecticut study was restricted to women. HIV-positive NHL cases were excluded for this report.…”