RISK AND PROGNOSIS OF CANCER IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THE DEATH OF A CHILD

First, we studied the relative risk of cancer among women born between 1935 and 1954 who had experienced a child's death, compared with wome n without this experience. Second, we examined whether survival was an y different between cancer patients in the 2 groups. The study was a p opulation based nested case-control study that included 14,669 cancer cases and 29,750 age-matched controls. The women who were included as incident cases were further analyzed using Cox regression in a study o f total survival. The overall relative risk of cancer among women who had lost a child was nearly identical to that of women who had not los t a child (OR = 0.96, 95% confidence interval 0.87-1.07), after adjust ment for age and parity. In the analysis of specific cancer sites, the re was nt, difference in relative risk between the 2 groups. In relati on to cancer survival, we found that patients who had lost a child had an overall risk Of dying that was nearly identical to patients who ha d not had this experience (HR = 1.08, 95% confidence interval 0.92-1.2 6), after adjustment for age and stage al: diagnosis. For specific sit es of cancer, the results also showed no difference in survival betwee n the 2 groups. In conclusion, risk: and survival of cancer were not d ifferent among women who had experienced the death of a child from the risk and survival among women without this experience. (C) 1996 Wiley -Liss, Inc.