Dad's family history of breast cancer may get short shrift
In
families which have a familial tendency to develop breast cancer, this
inherited susceptibility can come from either the mother's or the
father's side of the family. In these families, the susceptibility
comes through the paternal lineage about as often it does through the
maternal side of the family. Many people (including some healthcare
providers) are surprised that you can inherit a susceptiblity from your
dad's side. After all, most men do not get breast cancer, even in
families with a very strong tendency for developing this disease, so
the idea that the susceptibility could pass through males to their
female descendants seems counter-intuitive.
The main finding
of a study that will be published in the September 2006 issue of the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine by Dr. John Quillen and
colleagues reports that women report fewer cases of breast cancer in
their paternal relatives than would be expected. The consequences of
this apparent under-reporting is that a woman's risk of breast cancer
may be underestimated, potentially affecting her access to appropriate
screening and/or cancer prevention strategies. Ultimately, her
likelihood of having a poor health outcome due to breast cancer may be
increased if the management of her risk is less aggressive than might
be warranted if the true extent of her family history of cancer was
considered.
The authors of the study report their results in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The full text of this article will be published in the September 2006
issue. The article cite is “Paternal Relatives and Family History of
Breast Cancer” by John M. Quillin, PhD, Viswanathan Ramakrishnan, PhD,
Joseph Borzelleca, MD, Joann Bodurtha, MD, Deborah Bowen, PhD, and
Diane Baer Wilson, EdD. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume
31, Issue 3 (September 2006).
An article
by Eric Nagourney in the New York Times on July 25, 2006 also reports
on this study. The full text of the article in the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine is available here. A press release from the publisher that summarizes the findings is available here
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