Familial clustering of neural tube defects and gastric cancer |
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Authors: | D T Janerich S T Mayne W D Thompson A D Stark E F Fitzgerald H I Jacobson |
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Affiliation: | Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510. |
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Abstract: | A retrospective cohort study was conducted to determine whether producing an offspring with a neural tube defect (NTD) is associated with the development of unusual patterns of cancer among the parents in subsequent years. Mothers and fathers who had a child with an NTD in Upstate New York from 1945 to 1955 were followed through 1979 and compared to a control group of parents with normal offspring. Overall mortality and site-specific cancer incidence were not significantly different for case parents versus control parents, with the exception of gastric cancer, which occurred significantly more frequently in case parents. The finding of a familial association between NTDs and gastric cancer, coupled with a parallel decline in rates of these two diseases, suggests a common aetiology, perhaps related to dietary factors. |
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