Welsh ML et al. – Despite the importance of family history in first-degree relatives as risk factor for breast cancer, data such as age at diagnosis of affected relatives or second-degree relative history may be unnecessary in assessing personal breast cancer risk among women age >=40 yr Methods
Study of population-based estimates of breast cancer risk and different tumor subtypes in relation to degree, number, and age at diagnosis of affected relatives
Cox proportional hazards to calculate risks of breast cancer and tumor subtypes for pts with vs without family history of breast cancer relative
Pt cohort: 75,189 women age >=40 years, 1,087 of whom were diagnosed with breast cancer (median follow-up 3.16 yrs)
Results
Breast cancer risk was highest for women with a first-degree family history and did not differ substantially by the affected relative’s age at diagnosis or by number of affected first-degree relatives
Second-degree family history alone was not associated with a significantly increased breast cancer risk
Positive family history slightly associated with risk of triple positive (estrogen+/progesterone+/HER2+) and HER2-overexpressing tumors
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