Women who have close male relatives with prostate cancer are more likely to develop breast cancer, a study suggests.
Doctors should ask women about the history of all cancers in their family to predict their risk of breast tumours, said researchers. Women with both breast and prostate cancers among their immediate relatives were almost twice as likely to develop cancer themselves, the study, in the journal Cancer, found.
Jennifer Beebe-Dimmer, from the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, who led the study, said: “These findings support clinicians collecting a complete family history of all cancers.”
Cancer histories could help more accurately predict risk, she said, adding that doctors could warn patients that opposite-sex relatives might be at risk to encourage them to have checks.