SELECTED ARTICLES FROM THE RECENT LITERATURE 2006

9/15/06

Are hematologic malignancies more common in asthmatics?

Summary
Background – Questions have been raised whether the Th-2 predominant immune responses seen in many persistent asthmatics predispose to hematologic malignancies.

Findings – Sodeberg et al of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden carried out an epidemiological study of health records in 39,908 cases of hematologic (heme) malignancies (leukemia, Hodgkins Disease, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, myeloma) and 149,344 control subjects without heme malignancies during the 1987-1999 time period in Sweden. They found that the presence of psoriasis was associated with a modestly increased occurrence of leukemia (OR=1.4). The presence of Sjogrens Syndrome was particularly associated with heme malignancies (OR=4.0 overall; OR=6.4 for Hodgkins Disease). Heme malignancies were also more common in autoimmune hemolytic anemia and idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura but not in asthmatics.

Reference
Eur J Cancer 2006;Aug 29, E pub

Editor's Comments
I personally have reservations about interpreting findings of “guilt by association” in such large epidemiologic surveys of health records.

Nevertheless, the findings described above give some assurance that asthmatics do not appear to be at increased risk for heme malignancies. A recent study found that autoimmune diseases were actually less common in asthmatics than in non-asthmatics (Ann Intern Med 2006;144:877-83).

<-- BACK