Abstract
We have identified 23 334 individuals (40%) of twins born in Norway 1905–45 where both twins were alive in 1960 without malignant disease. These were linked to the Cancer Registry of Norway. A reduced risk of malignant disease was demonstrated among twins for all tumour sites combined; standardized incidence rate (SIR): 0.90 (95% CI 0.85–0.94) in females and 0.95 (95% Cl 0.90–0.99) in males. In both sexes, we observed a significant reduced incidence of malignant melanomas of the skin. The incidence of colorectal cancer tended to be reduced for both sexes. In females, the incidence of tumours of the central nervous system and lungs were reduced. We consider our findings are real, but cannot explain them. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
Change history
16 November 2011
This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms, as noted at publication
References
Akre O, Ekbom A, Hsieh CC, Trichopoulos D and Adami HO (1996) Testicular nonseminoma and seminoma in relation to perinatal characteristics. J Natl Cancer Inst 88: 883–889
The Cancer Registry of Norway (1982) Evaluation of completeness of reporting. In: Annual Report of the Cancer Registry 19–20
Cerhan JR, Kushi LH, Olson JE, Rich SS, Zheng W, Folsom AR and Sellers TA (2000) Twinship and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 92: 261–265
Ekbom A (1998) Growing evidence that several human cancers may originate in utero. Semin Cancer Biol 8: 237–244
Ekbom A, Hsieh CC, Lipworth L, Wolk A, Ponten J, Adami HO and Trichopoulos D (1996) Perinatal Characteristics in relation to incidence of and mortality from prostate cancer. BMJ 313: 337–341
Ekbom A, Hsieh CC, Lipworth L, Adami HO and Trichopoulos D (1997) Intrauterine environment and breast cancer risk in women: a population based study. J Natl Cancer Inst 89: 71–76
Ekbom A, Erlandsson G, Hsieh CC, Trichopoulos D, Adami HO and Cnattingius S (2000) Risk of breast cancer in prematurely born women. J Natl Cancer Inst 92: 840–841
Harvei S, Tretli S and Langmark F (1996) Quality of prostate cancer data in The Cancer Registry of Norway. Europ J Cancer 32A: 104–110
Kringlen E (1978) Norwegian twin registers. In: Twin Research: Biology and Epidemiol. New York: Alan R. Liss, Inc., 185–187
Lichtenstein P, Holm NV, Verkasalo PK, Iliadou A, Kaprio J, Koskenvuo M, Pukkala E, Skytthe A and Hemminki K (2000) Environmental and heritable factors in the causation of cancer. Analyses of cohorts of twins from Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The New England Journal of Medicine 343: 78–85
Lund E (1981) Pilot study for the evaluation of completeness of reporting to The Cancer Registry. In: Incidence of cancer in Norway 1978 The Cancer Registry of Norway 11–14
Michels KB, Trichopoulos D, Robins JM, Rosner BA, Manson JE, Hunter DJ, Colditz GA, Hankinson SE, Speizer FE and Willett WC (1996) Birthweight as a risk factor for breast cancer. Lancet 348: 1542–1546
Platz EA, Giovannucci E, Rimm EB, Curhan GC, Spiegelman D, Colditz GA and Willett WC (1998) Retrospective analysis of birth weight and prostate cancer in the health professionals follow-up study. Am J Epidemiol 147: 1140–1144
Stavola BL, Hardy R, Kuh D, Silva IS, Wadsworth M and Swerdlow AJ (2000) Birthweight, childhood growth and risk of breast cancer in a British cohort. Br J Cancer 83: 964–968
Silva dos Santos I (1999) Cancer Epidemiology: Principles and methods. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer
Swerdlow AJ, Stavola de BL, Swanwick MA and Maconochie NES (1997) Risks of breast and testicular cancers in young adult twins in England and Wales: evidence on prenatal and genetic aetiology. Lancet 350: 1723–1728
Swerdlow AJ, De Stavola BL, Swanwick MA, Mangtani P and Maconochie NE (1999) Risk factors for testicular cancer: a case-control study in twins. Br J Cancer 80: 1098–1102
Tibblin G, Eriksson M, Cnattingius S and Ekbom A (1995) High birth weight as a predictor of prostate cancer risk. Epidemiology 6: 423–424
Trichopoulos D and Lipworth L (1995) Is cancer causation simpler than we thought, but more intractable?. Epidemiology 6: 429–433
Verkasalo PK, Kaprio J, Koskenvuo M and Pukkala E (1999) Genetic predisposition, environment and cancer incidence: a nation-wide twin study in Finland, 1976–1995. Int J Cancer 83: 743–749
Waaler GHM (1934) Om nyfødte tvillingers størrelse. (Abstract in German.) Norsk Magasin for Lœgevidenskapen October 1113-1141
Windham GC, Bjerkedal T and Langmark F (1985) A population-based study of cancer incidence in twins and in children with congenital malformations or low birth weight, Norway, 1967–1980. Am J Epidemiol 121: 49–56
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
About this article
Cite this article
Iversen, T., Tretli, S. & Kringlen, E. An epidemiological study of cancer in adult twins born in Norway 1905–1945. Br J Cancer 84, 1463–1465 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.1827
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.1827
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Testicular cancer in twins: a meta-analysis
British Journal of Cancer (2008)
-
Birth weight and melanoma risk: a population-based case–control study
British Journal of Cancer (2008)