Abstract
BackgroundGreater family size measured with total fertility rate (TFR) and with household size, may offer more life satisfaction to the family members. Positive psychological well-being has been postulated to decrease cancer initiation risk. This ecological study aims to examine the worldwide correlation between family size, used as the measure of positive psychological well-being, and total cancer incidence rates.MethodsCountry specific estimates obtained from United Nations agencies on total cancer incidence rates (total, female and male rates in age range 0–49 years and all ages respectively), all ages site cancer incidence (bladder, breast, cervix uteri, colorectum, corpus uteri, lung, ovary and stomach), TFR, household size, life expectancy, urbanization, per capita GDP PPP and self-calculated Biological State Index (Ibs) were matched for data analysis. Pearson’s, non-parametric Spearman’s, partial correlations, independent T-test and multivariate regressions were conducted in SPSS.ResultsWorldwide, TFR and household size were significantly and negatively correlated to all the cancer incidence variables. These correlations remained significant in partial correlation analysis when GDP, life expectancy, Ibs and urbanization were controlled for. TFR correlated to male cancer incidence rate (all ages) significantly stronger than it did to female cancer incidence rate (all ages) in both Pearson’s and partial correlations. Multivariate stepwise regression analysis indicated that TFR and household size were consistently significant predictors of all cancer incidence variables.ConclusionsCountries with greater family size have lower cancer risk in both females, and especially males. Our results seem to suggest that it may be worthwhile further examining correlations between family size and cancer risk in males and females through the cohort and case-control studies based on large samples.
Highlights
Greater family size measured with total fertility rate (TFR) and with household size, may offer more life satisfaction to the family members
Household size as the proxy of family size has shown the similar correlation to all cancers incidence rates (Additional file 1: Figure S1)
Our study has revealed that greater family size, and possibly its associated positive psychological well-being, may play a protective role against cancer initiation
Summary
Greater family size measured with total fertility rate (TFR) and with household size, may offer more life satisfaction to the family members. Positive psychological well-being has been postulated to decrease cancer initiation risk This ecological study aims to examine the worldwide correlation between family size, used as the measure of positive psychological well-being, and total cancer incidence rates. Total fertility rate (TFR) representing the total number of births during a lifetime of a female [1, 2] has been used to measure childbearing and family size [3,4,5] in a number of studies. Greater family size has been postulated to protect family members from developing colorectal cancer [5], melanoma of skin [5], bladder cancer [5], breast cancer [5] and stomach cancer (in males only) [14]. Aldrich et al [15] reported that household size was in significant association with a risk of developing lung cancer in African Americans, but not in Latinos
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