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Family history of cancer can influence screening recommendations, particularly for colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers. Little is known about the value of regular updates of family history. Researchers used a U.S. population-based registry of people with personal or family histories of cancer to assess changes in family cancer history retroactively (from birth to study enrollment in about 12,000 people) and prospectively (from enrollment for a median of 8 years in a subset of about 2000 people).
Clinically relevant family history that would influence screening recommendations increased with age for all three evaluated cancers. For example, as patients aged from 30 to 50, 5% had clinically significant changes in family histories of color…