Comparison of patients by family history with gastric and non-gastric cancer

AIM:To compare the gastric cancer(GC) patients by their family history with gastric and non-GC.METHODS:Positive family histories within seconddegree relatives and clinicopathological features were obtained for 256 patients.RESULTS:Of the 256 probands,112(76 male,36 female) were incorporated into familial GC(FGC) group:at least two GC members;144(98 male,46 female) were included in the non-FGC group(relatives only affected with non-GCs).Of 399 tumors in relatives(181 from FGC against 212 from non-FGC),GC was the most frequent,followed by esophageal,hepatocellular,and colorectal cancer.Nasopharyngeal cancer was next to lung cancer but prior to breast and urogenital cancers.Most affected members aggregated within first-degree relatives(FGC:66 siblings,48 fathers,31 mothers,four offspring;non-FGC:56 fathers,55 siblings,43 mothers,and 15 offspring).The ratio of males to females in affected first-degree relatives was usually higher in male probands.Paternal history of GC was a slight risk for GC in males(OR = 1.19,95% CI:0.53-2.69),while risk of GC by maternal history of non-GCs was increased in females(OR = 0.46,95% CI:0.22-0.97).Diffuse-GC was the major histological type in all subgroups.Difference in tumor sites between thetwo groups was derived from an excess of upper sites in non-FGC female probands.CONCLUSION:Distribution of associated non-GCs in a family history of GC may vary with geographic areas.GC may have different genetic and/or environmental etiology in different families,and a certain subtype may be inherited in a female-influenced fashion.