Late-Onset Cancer in a Parent Is Associated with Excess Risk for the Same Cancer in Offspring

Early-onset cancer often conveys hereditary risk to offspring. In this prospective cohort study, Swedish investigators determined whether late-onset cancer in a parent also confers excess risk for the same cancer in offspring.

The participants were Swedish parents and offspring (born after 1931) — 12.2 million people; first primary cancers were detected in 1.1 million. Risks for concordant cancers in offspring were significantly higher among those whose parents developed late-onset cancers than in offspring whose parents were unaffected. For example, if parents were diagnosed at age 70 to 79, adjusted hazard ratios were significantly higher for the same cancer in offspring: non-Hodgkin lymphoma (1.4), colorectal cancer (1.7), breast cancer (…