Family history data of colorectal cancer, heart disease, and stroke were obtained on near relatives (parents, siblings, and children) in 702 colorectal cancer cases and 710 age-/sex-matched community controls as part of a large, comprehensive, population-based epidemiological and clinicopathological study of colorectal cancer conducted in Melbourne (the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study). There was a statistically significant higher family history rate of colorectal cancer in cases than in controls (relative risk=2.13; 95% confidence interval=1.53-2.96;p< 0.001). This family history effect was more pronounced for colon cancer than for rectal cancer and there was an earlier age of detection of colorectal cancer in those with a family history of this cancer when compared with those without such a history. Dietary risk factors for colorectal cancer, which were previously described in the Melbourne study, were separate and independent from the family history effects. It is concluded that a family history of colorectal cancer is an important indication to screen individuals for this cancer, and also that while heredity has a definite role in the etiology of colorectal cancer, this hereditary effect is either likely to be small, or else likely to be important in only a proportion (perhaps 20%) of cases. © 1989 Société Internationale de Chirurgie.
CITATION STYLE
Kune, G. A., Kune, S., & Watson, L. F. (1989). The role of heredity in the etiology of large bowel cancer: Data from the Melbourne colorectal cancer study. World Journal of Surgery, 13(1), 124–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01671173
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