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Childhood-onset SLE patients experienced increased cancer risk
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Patients with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus had an increased, although relatively small, cancer risk compared with the general population, according to recent study results.
Sasha Bernatsky, MD, PhD, FRCPC, of the division of clinical epidemiology, Research Institute at the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, and colleagues confirmed cancers within systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) registries at 10 pediatric centers across the United States and Canada. They studied 1,020 patients (mean age, 12.6 years; 82% female and Caucasian) between 1974 and 2009 for 7,986 person-years (average, 7.8 years).
Sasha Bernatsky
While three invasive cancers were expected during the period, researchers said 14 incidents occurred (standardized incidence ratio=4.7; 95% CI, 2.6-7.8), which translated to 1.75 incident cancers per 1,000 person-years. Mean SLE duration was 12.3 years at cancer diagnosis.
Three hematologic cancers, including two non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and one leukemia, were detected (SIR=5.2; 95% CI, 1.1-15.2). When stratified by age (SIR=3.9; 95% CI, 0.8-11.4 for aged 0 to 19 years; SIR=4.8; 95% CI, 2.4-8.6 for aged 20 years and older) and sex (SIR=4.4; 95% CI, 0.5-16 for males; SIR=4.6; 95% CI, 2.4-8.1 for females), data were similar. The highest cancer occurrence displayed a trend 10 to 19 years after SLE diagnosis.
“This study represents the most up-to-date results from our multicenter initiative to clarify baseline cancer risk in pediatric-onset SLE,” the researchers concluded. “There is a possible increased risk in overall cancer, which may be driven by hematologic cancer risk. Further work in progress will compare work across geography, race/ethnicity and disease subset.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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