Family history and survival of patients with gastric cancer: a meta-analysis.

Although the incidence of gastric cancer is decreasing globally, it remains the second leading cause of cancer death, particularly in Asia and especially in China, Japan, and Korea (Yoo, 2010; Jiang et al., 2013). Family history of cancer is well accepted as an important risk factor for the development of several types of cancer (Eberl et al., 2005). With regard to gastric cancer, family history of gastric cancer was the major risk factor for gastric cancer development, as is also seen in other types of cancer (Foschi et al., 2008; Shin et al., 2010). In the majority of studies, the risk ratio for the development of gastric cancer by family history was between 1.5and 3.5-fold (Yaghoobi et al., 2010; Mansour-Ghanaei et al., 2012). However, the effect of family history on gastric cancer survival is controversial. A study of 145 gastric cardia adenoma (GCA) patients who received surgery showed that a positive upper gastrointestinal cancer family history had a worse 8-year overall survival time (Guo et al., 2013). Another study reported that family history had no effect