Premium
Familial aggregation of prostate cancer in African‐Americans and white Americans
Author(s) -
Cunningham Glenn R.,
Ashton Carol M.,
Annegers John F.,
Souchek Julianne,
Klima Marcella,
Miles Brian
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the prostate
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.295
H-Index - 123
eISSN - 1097-0045
pISSN - 0270-4137
DOI - 10.1002/pros.10252
Subject(s) - medicine , incidence (geometry) , epidemiology , prostate cancer , demography , negroid , family aggregation , proband , cohort , cohort study , cancer registry , confidence interval , cancer , gerontology , disease , gynecology , mutation , genetics , biology , physics , sociology , optics , gene
Abstract BACKGROUND We compared the incidence of prostate cancer in first‐degree family members of African‐Americans with that in white Americans. METHODS A historical cohort design was used to enroll 330 incident cases <80 years of age that were diagnosed at the Houston VA Medical Center between June 9, 1993 and June 8, 1996. We compared incidence rates in the probands' families with the incidence rates found in contemporaneous data from the national and regional Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End‐Results (SEER) program. RESULTS Three‐hundred five probands (41% African‐American) had evaluable first‐degree relatives (394 African‐American, 527 non‐African‐American). The standardized incidence ratio was 1.61 overall (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22–2.13) and did not differ between African‐American and non‐African‐American families: 1.58 (1.05–2.29) and 1.65 (1.06–2.45) in African‐Americans and non‐African‐Americans, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The similar level of familial aggregation is evidence that the higher incidence of prostate cancer in African‐Americans is not attributable to a higher prevalence of germline mutations predisposing to the disease. Prostate 56: 256–262, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.