Good Cancer Survival Rates Passed On To Children

Editor's Choice
Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Breast Cancer;  Colorectal Cancer;  Prostate / Prostate Cancer
Article Date: 05 Nov 2007 - 6:00 PST

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If you had good survival after cancer diagnosis, specifically breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers, your children will most likely also have a better chance of survival, compared to those whose parents did not survive, according to an Article in The Lancet Oncology, November issue.

Dr Linda Lindström, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and team looked at a database of 3 million families and over one million patients with cancer - the information came from a population-based Swedish family database. They compared child survival rates to parental survival rates using statistical techniques and computer modeling.

The researchers found that if a child had the same cancer as one of his/her parents, and that parent died within ten years of diagnosis, his/her chances of survival was significantly lower, compared to a child whose parent survived the cancer. This data refers only to breast, lung, colorectal and prostate cancers. The greater risks of not surviving were׃

-- Breast cancer, 75% greater risk of not surviving
-- Prostate cancer 107% greater risk of not surviving
-- Colorectal cancer 44% greater risk of not surviving
-- Lung cancer 39% greater risk of not surviving

The degree of worsening survival outcome of a parent was closely linked to the risk of death for these children, the scientists explained.

"In conclusion, our findings provide support for the hypothesis that cancer-specific survival of a patient can be predicted from previous parental survival from cancer at the same site. Consequently, molecular studies that highlight the genetic determinants of inherited survival in cancers are needed. In a clinical setting, information on poor survival in a family might be vital in accurately predicting tumor progression in the newly diagnosed individual," the authors wrote.

"Lindström and colleagues, findings, if confirmed, might have practical implications for family members and their physicians. For example, additional useful information might now be available for children who have a parent affected by a rapidly fatal cancer, which could act as a basis for specific therapeutic and preventative decisions - for example active treatment versus observation in prostate cancer. Research on patterns of disease in families has led to valuable clues about cancer genetics and susceptibility syndromes," wrote Dr Ora Paltiel, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre, Jerusalem, Israel, in an Accompanying Comment.

"Familial concordance in cancer survival: a Swedish population-based study"
Dr Linda S Lindström MSc, Prof Per Hall PhD, Mikael Hartman MD, Fredrik Wiklund PhD, Prof Henrik Grönberg PhD and Kamila Czene PhD
Lancet Oncology 2007; 8:1001-1006
DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(07)70282-6
Click here to read the Summary online

Accompanying Comment
"Cancer survival: like father, like son?"
Ora Paltiel
Lancet Oncology`- Volume 8, Number 11, 2007, pages 961-962
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Written by׃ Christian Nordqvist
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