Context

Screening for breast, colorectal and prostate cancer is recommended to begin at an earlier age for individuals at increased risk because of their family history, compared with individuals at average risk. Some clinical guidelines have also suggested using more sensitive screening modalities for individuals with family histories of cancer, such as MRI for breast cancer screening. Since screening recommendations are different based on family history characteristics, it is important to know how family cancer history might change over time. Most family cancer history information is collected from patients on their initial visit and no evidence exists to help guide the clinician on how often family history information should be updated.