Week 2: Hereditary cancer risk

Question 1

What is absolute risk?

Answer 1

Absolute risk: risk of developing a specific disease over a specific time period

Question 2

What is relative risk?

Answer 2

Relative risk: also known as risk ratio, compares the risk of an event in one group to the risk of the same event occurring in another group

RR=1 means groups have same risk
RR<1 means risk of developing cancer in the group is less than risk in general population
RR>1 means risk of developing cancer is greater than in the general population

Question 3

What is odds ratio?

Answer 3

Odds ratio: a statistic that quantifies the strength of the association between two events, refers to the probability of occurrence of an event

-When there is no association between the two events both OR and RR are equal to 1
-When there is an association between the two groups OR exaggerates the estimate of their relationship (is farther from 1 than RR)

Question 4

What is empiric risk?

Answer 4

Empiric risk: the probability that something will occur based on experience rather than on the knowledge of the causative mechanism. When an inherited susceptibility to cancer is unlikely, use of empiric risk data can be helpful

Question 5

What are the red flags for hereditary cancer risk?

Answer 5

EMU!
E: earlier than expected age of dx
M: multiple primaries, family members, etc
U: uncommon cancer (male breast ca, metastatic prostate cancer, pancreatic, ovarian)