INCREASED RISK FOR FAMILIAL OVARIAN-CANCER AMONG JEWISH WOMEN - A POPULATION-BASED CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Jewish women have been reported to have a higher risk for familial bre ast cancer than non-Jewish women and to be more likely to carry mutati ons in breast cancer genes such as BRCA1. Because BRCA1 mutations also increase women's risk for ovarian cancer, we asked whether Jewish wom en are at higher risk for familial ovarian cancer than non-Jewish wome n. To determine the effects of 1) Jewish religion and 2) ovarian cance r in a first-degree relative on women's risk for epithelial ovarian ca ncer, we used data from a population-based, case-control study conduct ed in 8 geographic regions in the United States from 1980 through 1982 . The study group included 471 cases and 4,025 controls. Jewish women were more likely to have familial ovarian cancer than non-Jewish women [odds ratio (OR) = 8.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.6-28]. The r isk of having ovarian cancer appeared to be greater in Jewish women ha ving a first-degree relative with ovarian cancer (OR = 8.81, 95% CI = 2.02-38.23) than in non Jewish women having a first-degree relative wi th ovarian cancer (OR = 3.01, 95% CI = 1.61-5.64), but differences bet ween Jewish and non-Jewish women were not statistically significant. J ewish women with no first-degree relative with ovarian cancer had no i ncreased risk for ovarian cancer (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.74-2.91) compa red to non-Jewish women. These results suggest that Jewish women may h ave a higher rate of familial ovarian cancer than non-Jewish women, bu t because the results are based on a small number of Jewish women with familial ovarian cancer. the results need to be confirmed in larger s tudies. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.