Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21554674›Full record

ArticleBMC cancer2011

Influence of family size and birth order on risk of cancer: a population-based study.

Melanie Bevier, Marianne Weires, Hauke Thomsen, Jan Sundquist, Kari Hemminki

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC cancer, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
16citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Income Persistence and the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2026
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  7. Number of Older Biological Siblings and Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer Risk.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2024
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Joint Families and Cancer Diagnosis in Rural IndiaAsian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2018
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Season of birth and other perinatal risk factors for melanoma.International journal of epidemiology · 2014
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Birth Rate as a Determinant of Dementia Incidence: A Comprehensive Global Analysis.American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Melanie BevierDivision of Molecular Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 580, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. m.bevier@dkfz-heidelberg.de
Marianne Weires
Hauke Thomsen
Jan Sundquist
Kari Hemminki

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFamily size and birth order are known to influence the risk of some cancers. However, it is still unknown whether these effects change from early to later adulthood. We used the data of the Swedish Family-Cancer Database to further analyze these effects.

methodsWe selected over 5.7 million offspring with identified parents but no parental cancer. We estimated the effect of birth order and family size by Poisson regression adjusted for age, sex, period, region and socioeconomic status. We divided the age at diagnosis in two groups, below and over 50 years, to identify the effect of family size and birth order for different age periods.

resultsNegative associations for increasing birth order were found for endometrial, testicular, skin, thyroid and connective tissue cancers and melanoma. In contrast, we observed positive association between birth order and lung, male and female genital cancers. Family size was associated with decreasing risk for endometrial and testicular cancers, melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma; risk was increased for leukemia and nervous system cancer. The effect of birth order decreased for lung and endometrial cancer from age at diagnosis below to over 50 years. Combined effects for birth order and family size were marginally significant for thyroid gland tumors. Especially, the relative risk for follicular thyroid gland tumors was significantly decreased for increasing birth order.

conclusionOur findings suggest that the effect of birth order decreases from early to late adulthood for lung and endometrial cancer.

Indexed as

Birth OrderFamily CharacteristicsAdolescentAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAge FactorsChildChild, PreschoolDatabases, FactualFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMaleMiddle Aged

Identifiers

PMID21554674
PMCPMC3103479

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.