This week's Health Report on ABC Radio National included an interview with Dianne Finkelstein, principal investigator of the US Cancer Genetics Network. Finkelstein and her fellow researchers have been studying a large group for several years assessing how their family history relates to their risk of cancer. She stressed the importance of following family history over a period of time as a person's siblings and parents age and may contract cancer later in years, thus changing the family story. For example, with breast cancer, for those screened for family history at age 30, only 7% were considered to be in a high risk group. In that same group of people screened at age 50, 11% were revealed as being in a high risk group. It's also important for screening and lifestyle choices to know where the primary cancer was in a family member, not where it may have spread or ended up.
You can read more about this study in the following articles in JAMA. Contact your library if you have trouble locating the full text:
Ziogas A et al. Clinically Relevant Changes in Family History of Cancer Over Time. JAMA July 13, 2011;306;2: 172-178
Louise S. Acheson Recording, Interpreting, and Updating the Family History of Cancer - Implications for Cancer Prevention. (Editorial) JAMA July 13/2011;306;2:208-210
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