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2001 |
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Siblings of cancer patients at no greater risk COPENHAGEN Aug. 31, 2001 -- Brothers and sisters of cancer patients are no more likely to get cancer than other people say researchers. The results should ease fears among families that experience cancer. Results of the large study led by Dr. Jeanette Falck Winther, of the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Denmark were published in this week's issue of THE LANCET. The researchers analyzed cancer data from 42, 000 siblings of 25,000 children with cancer in Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). "Exclusion of only 56 families with well-described familial cancer syndromes from the more than 25, 000 families included in the study resulted in observed cancer-risks in siblings equivalent to those expected in the general population," said Falck Winther via e-mail. "Our results should reassure childhood cancer patients and their families, and will be helpful for pediatricians and genetic counselors worldwide." Children with cancer were identified from records in the five Nordic cancer registries, and their brothers and sisters from nationwide population registries. Cancers in siblings were documented through record linkage with cancer registries and compared with national incidence rates. The investigators also assessed cancer incidence in parents to identify familial (inheritable) cancer syndromes. A total 353 brothers and sisters of cancer patients were also diagnosed with cancers. That compared with 284 expected cases. However, when data were analyzed without familial cancer cases, siblings of childhood cancer patients were at no increased risk. In some rare inherited disorders such as retinoblastoma and Li-Fraumeni syndrome, relatives of children with cancer are at an increased risk of cancer. Falck Winther and colleagues and United States investigators, analyzed the relationship between childhood cancer and sibling risk, and evaluated the influence of recessive conditions in cancer causation. One group of siblings, did appear to have an increased risk of cancer. Siblings younger than 10 years were two to three times more likely to have cancer than the general population; and this increased risk declined with age, and approached expected rates after age 30 years. The investigators did not identify any new patterns of familial cancer that indicated inherited susceptibility, or evidence that recessive conditions might contribute to cancers not explained by specific syndromes. They conclude that apart from rare cancer syndromes, pediatric cancer is not an indicator of increased cancer risk in siblings. |
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