LUNG-CANCER HISTOLOGIC TYPES AND FAMILY HISTORY OF CANCER - ANALYSIS OF HISTOLOGIC SUBTYPES OF 872 PATIENTS WITH PRIMARY LUNG-CANCER

Background. Previous research has demonstrated that there is clusterin g of cancer among relatives of patients with lung cancer and that wome n may be at a greater risk than men, regardless of their smoking histo ries. Methods. The authors conducted a study to test the hypotheses th at this predisposition varies by the histologic type of tumor and that women with particular histologic types will report more first-degree relatives with cancer than will men with the same cell type. The analy ses were based on 872 patients with histologically confirmed lung canc er who had been admitted to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, Ne w York, between 1982 and 1987. Results. More patients with squamous an d large cell carcinomas reported two or more relatives with cancer, an d overall, women reported more family history of cancer. Among patient s with squamous cell carcinoma, this difference between men and women was significant (P < 0.05). Among patients younger than 57 years, thos e with squamous cell were the most likely to report a family history o f cancer (P < 0.01). A similar trend was observed for smoking. Persons with small cell and squamous cell carcinomas who were nonsmokers or h ad smoked 1-20 years had three times the risk of a family history of c ancer than did those with large cell and adenocarcinomas (odds ratio [ OR] = 3.01; confidence interval [ci] = 1.38-6.63), in contrast to thos e who had smoked more than 20 years (OR = 0.85; ci = 0.62-1.62). Concl usions. Squamous cell carcinoma is most associated with familial clust ering of cancer, particularly among women, persons younger than 57 yea rs, an individuals who smoked for fewer than 20 years.