The Holocaust is a significant and independent risk factor of late-onset cancers: a systematic review of the literature and original data on Jewish Israeli, Jewish Non-Israeli and Non-Jewish Non-Israeli survivors

Background/Aim: Seventy-six years after Auschwitz Liberation, the Holocaust keeps on persecuting its surviving victims. As witnessed by the psychiatric and medical literature in the last decades, in fact, the Holocaust survivors (HS) appear to suffer from several Shoah-related late-onset diseases impacting their survival, such as internal illnesses and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cancer represents a further severe pathology which seems to be connected with the Holocaust experience. Our aim was to review the existing knowledge of Holocaust-related cancer in HS in order to assess its real incidence and clinicoprognostic significance. Materials and Methods: We systematically reviewed the literature dealing with Israeli Jewish and non-Jewish non-Israeli HS developing cancer. We also reviewed and analyzed the cancer data of noted Jewish HS not resident or having resided in Israel available as public information. Results: We found 16 and 15 studies on Israeli Jews and non-Jewish non-Israeli survivors, respectively.