Survival in bladder and renal cell cancers is familial

Having family members with cancer has been associated with increased risk for bladder and renal cell cancers, but its association with survival has not been examined. This study was an analysis of the nationwide Swedish Family-Cancer Database and revealed that survival for bladder and renal cell cancers was similar whether the cancer was familial or sporadic; however, when survival in offspring was analyzed according to the affected parents' length of survival, prognosis was concordant. Cox proportional hazard regression models revealed that for bladder cancer, the risk for death among offspring whose parents survived > or =5 yr was approximately one third that of offspring whose parents survived <5 yr, after adjustment for gender, age at diagnosis, time period of diagnosis, socioeconomic status, and geographic region (adjusted hazard ratio 0.34; 95% confidence interval 0.15 to 0.80, for overall mortality). A risk of similar magnitude was found for renal cell cancer (adjusted hazard ratio 0.38; 95% confidence interval 0.16 to 0.87, for overall mortality). These population-level findings suggest heritability of prognosis for bladder and renal cell cancers. Genetic factors likely contribute to the mechanism underlying this observation.