Age of onset in familial cancer

Abstract

Background: Reliable estimates on the age of onset between familial and sporadic cancers are important for etiological understanding and clinical practice. Specific studies on the age of onset of familial cancer compared with sporadic cancer are less common than studies on familial risks and these are almost lacking for rare cancers. Materials and methods: The Swedish Family-Cancer Database was used to estimate cumulative risks of all common cancer types according to family history with a stratified Cox model based on Tsiatis' method. We calculated the age at which the cumulative risk of cancer reached 0.1% and 0.5%. Results: The age to reach a cumulative risk of 0.1% was significantly lower among individuals with a parent or a sibling affected for any of the investigated cancer sites. The age differences ranged from 2.6 years (sons of prostate cancer patients) to 16.3 years (brothers of urinary bladder cancer patients). A cumulative risk of 0.5% was also reached earlier for individuals with a family history, especially for individuals with a parent and a sibling affected. Conclusions: Cancers in individuals with a family history occur earlier than in sporadic patients. The derived estimates may be useful for clinical counseling and screening recommendations. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved.