Mutual association between family history of gastric and colorectal cancer and risk of gastric and colorectal cancer

Background and Aim: We evaluated the associations between gastric cancer (GC) family history (FH) and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk and between CRC FH and GC/gastric adenoma risk. Methods: We used data of participants who underwent national cancer screening between 2013 and 2014. Participants with GC or CRC FH in first-degree relatives (n = 1 172 750) and those without cancer FH (n = 3 518 250) were matched 1:3 by age and gender. Results: Of the 1 172 750 participants with a FH, 871 104, 264 040, and 37 606 had FHs of only GC, only CRC, and both GC and CRC, respectively. The median follow-up time was 4.8 years. GC and CRC FHs were associated with increased GC and CRC risks, respectively. GC FH was associated with CRC risk (adjusted hazard ratio 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.10), whereas CRC FH was not associated with the risk of GC or gastric adenoma. However, gastric adenoma risk increased 1.62-fold (95% CI 1.40–1.87) in participants with FHs of both GC and CRC, demonstrating a significant difference with the 1.39-fold (95% CI 1.34–1.44) increase in participants with only GC FH. Furthermore, GC risk increased by 5.32 times (95% CI 1.74–16.24) in participants with FHs of both GC and CRC in both parents and siblings. Conclusions: GC FH was significantly associated with a 5% increase in CRC risk. Although CRC FH did not increase GC risk, FH of both GC and CRC further increased the risk of gastric adenoma. FHs of GC and CRC may affect each other's neoplastic lesion risk.