Molar pregnancy and risk for cancer in women and their male partners

OBJECTIVE: It was our aim to evaluate the hypothesis that molar pregnancy i s a marker of increased risk for cancer. STUDY DESIGN: This was a nationwide cohort study of 1520 women, identified from the Danish National Register of Patients, in whom a molar pregnancy wa s diagnosed during the period 1977-1992 and of 1295 male partners of these women, traced in the Danish Central Population Register. RESULTS: Linkage of the female roster with the Danish Cancer Registry throu gh 1994 revealed 19 cases of gestational choriocarcinoma, whereas 0.04 was expected from the rates for the general population. Twenty cases of cancers of other types were observed with 24.9 expected (standardized incidence ra tio, 0.8; 95% confidence interval, 0.5-1.2), but no specific type of cancer other than gestational choriocarcinoma occurred at a rate significantly di fferent from that expected. Among the 1295 male partners notified in the Ce ntral Population Register, a total of 22 cancers were observed with 21.9 ex pected (standardized incidence ratio, 1.0; 95% confidence interval, 0.7-1.5 ). CONCLUSION: Molar pregnancy is not associated with an increased risk for ca ncer other than gestational carcinoma.