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Probabilities and Possibilities

Barbara L. Weber, MD; Judy E. Garber, MD, MPH

JAMA. 1993;270(13):1602-1603.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

What is the magnitude of the influence of family history on breast cancer risk? Two methodologically different but excellent studies have recently been published in JAMA that attempt to assess the contribution of family history to the risk of breast cancer development. In July, Colditz et al¹ reported their analysis of 2389 prospectively identified breast cancer cases from among the Nurses' Health Study cohort. In this issue of JAMA, Slattery and Kerber² report the results of their large case-control study from the Utah Population Database. Both studies observed an approximately twofold increase in breast cancer risk among women with an affected sister or mother, and both found this risk to increase if more relatives were affected, or affected close relatives were diagnosed at young ages. These findings are consistent with many other epidemiologic studies in the literature.^3-6 However, the two studies offer discrepant estimates of the percentage . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor (Dr Weber), and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Mass (Dr Garber).

Footnotes
Reprint requests to the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (Dr Weber).

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