Personal medical history, family history of cancer and the risk of soft tissue sarcoma
Menée à l'aide de données portant sur 969 témoins et 498 patients atteints d'un sarcome des tissus mous, cette étude identifie des antécédents personnels ou familiaux associés au risque de développer la maladie
Background: Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) etiology is largely undefined.
Methods: We analyzed data from an Italian case-control study, including 498 incident, histologically confirmed STS cases and 969 hospital controls. Odds ratios (OR) of STS for self-reported personal medical history and family history of cancer were estimated using Firth penalized logistic regression models.
Results: STS risk was significantly increased with history of burns (OR 2.46, 95% CI: 1.10–5.47) and showed a non-significant excess with herpes zoster infection (OR 2.31, 95% CI: 0.65–8.23). Hypertension (OR 0.71, 95% CI: 0.53–0.94), hypercholesterolemia (OR 0.66, 95% CI: 0.45–0.96), and tonsillectomy (OR 0.69, 95% CI: 0.51–0.93) were more frequent among controls. No associations were observed for hepatitis, diabetes, immune-mediated diseases, fractures, surgeries other than tonsillectomy, tooth extraction, or blood transfusion. Family history of cancer showed no major associations, except for STS (0.6% of cases, 0.1% of controls, OR>7) and kidney cancer (OR 4.69, 95% CI: 1.74–12.7).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest a positive association with family history of STS, although based on small numbers. Personal medical history and family history of other cancers had no major role; of interest are the suggestive associations of STS with history of burns and herpes zoster.
Impact: Further research is needed to replicate our findings and to explore potential underlying mechanisms.
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention , article en libre accès, 2026