Familial association of specific histologic types of ovarian malignancy with other malignancies

Population-based data on the familial association of specific histologic types of ovarian malignancy with other malignancies are limited. Such data may help to elucidate etiologic differences among histologic types of ovarian malignancy.

The nationwide Swedish Family-Cancer Database, which includes 10.3 million individuals and 20,974 ovarian carcinomas, was used to calculate standardized incidence ratios and 95% confidence intervals for age- and histology-specific ovarian malignancies in women whose parents or siblings were affected with malignancies at the most common disease sites.

Ovarian malignancy was found to be associated with ovarian, laryngeal, breast, endometrial, liver, and colon carcinoma, as well as myeloma; epithelial ovarian malignancy was found to be associated with ovarian, endometrial, and skin malignancies and with melanoma and myeloma; papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma was found to be associated with ovarian and skin malignancies and with myeloma; and endometrioid carcinoma was found to be associated with endometrial, ovarian, and prostate malignancies and with melanoma. For younger women (ages 40-45 years) whose mothers were affected with endometrial malignancies, the risk of developing endometrioid carcinoma was slightly greater than the risk of developing papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma.

Specific types of ovarian malignancy may be associated with specific familial disease sites, with such associations depending on age at diagnosis; the strength of the observed associations varied according to histology. Associations were found between endometrioid carcinoma and endometrial malignancy and between serous carcinoma and Hodgkin disease.