WEDNESDAY, July 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) — There seems to be a common genetic risk for primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) and reproductive cancer risk, according to a study published online July 12 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Kristina Allen-Brady, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues conducted a case-control population-based study using records from 1995 to 2022 to examine whether a subset of women with POI and their family members have an increased risk for cancer. The analyses included 613 women with POI and their relatives from two major Utah academic health care systems.

The researchers observed a significant increase in breast cancer among women with POI (odds ratio, 2.20) and a nominally significant increase in ovarian cancer. Probands with POI were aged 36.5 ± 4.3 years when diagnosed with POI and were aged 59.5 ± 12.7 years when diagnosed with cancer. Causal and candidate gene variants were identified for cancer and POI. An increased risk for breast and colon cancer (odds ratios, 1.28 and 1.50, respectively) was seen among second-degree relatives of these women. The risk for prostate cancer was increased in first-, second-, and third-degree relatives (odds ratios, 1.64, 1.54, and 1.33, respectively).

“Our data suggest that a subset of women with POI need counseling regarding future cancer risk,” the authors write. “Recommendations will likely depend on underlying family history and genetic risk.”

Several authors disclosed financial ties to Fabric Genomics.

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