Epidemiological data have not yet enabled physicians to look beyond age and race to identify men at increased risk for prostate cancer. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study of familial patterns of prostate cancer with self-reported data from a risk-factor questionnaire. There were 385 patients with histologically confirmed prostate cancer, and 385 race and age-matched (+/- 5 years) controls with other cancers. Family history, available for 378 patients and 383 controls, was positive for prostate cancer in 13.0% versus 5.7%, respectively. The difference was significant at p = 0.01. The over-all age-adjusted risk estimate for men with a first-degree relative with prostate cancer was significantly elevated (odds ratio of 2.41), as were the individual risk estimates for having a father or brother with prostate cancer (odds ratio of 2.24 and 2.66). Having a second-degree relative (grandfather or uncle) with prostate cancer also conferred elevated but not statistically significant risk. These data accord well with the few previously published case-control studies of familiarity of prostate cancer. On the basis of these findings, one should consider recommending participation in early detection programs for prostate cancer in a man whose father or brother has had the disease.

Descriptive epidemiological findings for 7,696 patients with newly diagnosed thyroid cancer reported to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program for the years 1973 through 1981 are summarized. The preponderance of this tumor in women and of the papillary histologic subtype are well documented. The data suggest that previously reported increases in the incidence of thyroid cancer among Whites levelled off in the late 1970s. Differences in the incidence of this cancer according to ethnic group were particularly striking. Compared with White men and women, Puerto Rico Hispanics and Blacks had significantly lower thyroid cancer rates (weighted rate ratios ranged from 0.48 to 0.65). New Mexico Hispanic men and Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Filipino men and women had significantly higher rates (weighted rate ratios ranged from 1.56 to 3.17). Elevated thyroid cancer rates for residents of Hawaii, regardless of ethnic group, were also a noteworthy finding. Variations in thyroid cancer risk according to ethnic group and geographical residence may reflect socio-economic or local environmental influences, including the possibility of a carcinogenic agent in volcanic lava.

The authors conducted a case‐comparison chart‐review study on 498 patients with histologically confirmed salivary gland carcinoma and 487 randomly selected patients registered at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute at Houston from 1960 through 1981. The study was undertaken to identify potential risk factors for salivary gland carcinoma. Univariate analysis of the data indicated a relationship with prior radiation therapy (odds ratio estimate of 6.17 with 95% confidence limits of 3.11–12.22) and with previous primary cancer (odds ratio estimate 4.81 with 95% confidence limits of 2.70–8.55). For agricultural occupations, the odds ratio was 1.62 with confidence limits of 1.05 to 2.49. The excess for previous primary cancer was largely due to previous skin cancer, especially in men, for whom the odds ratio was 13.7 (4.17–44.97). Multivariate analysis of these data, using the logit model, confirmed the association with both previous primary cancer and previous radiation. The rationale for a possible relationship between cutaneous neoplasms and salivary carcinoma is explained in embryologic and histogenetic terms.