Increased risk of gastro-oesophageal cancers among married couples: Data from the Ardabil Cancer Registry (ACR) in Northwest of Iran, 2002-2016

Abstract Background: The study of cancer in spouses may play an important role in the assessment of cancer etiology. This study aims to evaluate the risk of gastro-oesophageal cancers among spouses.Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of the Ardabil Cancer Registry (ACR) office for patients with a diagnosis of gastro-oesophageal cancers from 2002 to 2016. Data were collected by trained medical personnel through medical records.Results: A total of 2741 participants diagnosed with gastro-oesophageal cancer were enrolled in this study: 1786 (65.2%) had gastric cancer and 955 (34.8%) had oesophageal cancer. In the 14 years of the study period, twelve couples with gastro-oesophageal cancer were identified. The mean duration at marriage among the couples was 42.5 years of age. A positive history of consanguineous marriage was found in 2 (16.7%) of the cases. Of these 12 couples with gastro-oesophageal cancer, 8 (33.3%) were located in the oesophagus, 15 (62.5%) in the stomach, and one (4.2%) at the gastro-oesophageal junction. Histologically, all gastric cancers were adenocarcinoma and were located mainly in the cardia region (66.7%). However, squamous cell carcinoma was the most common histologic type of oesophageal cancer (87.5%) and were located mainly in the middle thirds and lower thirds of the oesophagus.Conclusions: The presence of shared risk factors among married couples such as lifestyle (smoking and alcohol consumption), nutritional habits, psychological stress, and H. pylori infection, indicating that environmental factors play an important role in the development of gastric cancer.