The epidemiology of herpes zoster and its complications in Medicare cancer patients

BACKGROUND: Literature on the epidemiology of herpes zoster (HZ) in cancer patients is sparse and does not include the elderly. The objectives of this study were to determine the incidence of HZ and related complications in elderly cancer patients and assess risk factors associated with HZ. METHODS: Patients ≥65 years diagnosed with cancer in 1991–2007 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry-Medicare linked database in this retrospective, longitudinal, open cohort study. The observation period spanned from first cancer diagnosis until the end of data availability. A random group of non-cancer Medicare patients served as the comparison group. Cases of HZ and related complications were ascertained from medical claims. Incidence rates (IR) and adjusted IR ratios were reported. RESULTS: The study population consisted of 82,832 hematologic (HEM) and 944,777 solid cancer patients (SOLID). During follow-up, 9.2% of HEM and 6.3% of SOLID were diagnosed with HZ. The IR of HZ was significantly higher in HEM than SOLID (31.0 vs. 14.9 per 1,000 patient-years, p <0.01). The adjusted IR ratio vs. non-cancer elderly patients was 2.4 in HEM and 1.2 in SOLID. The proportion of patients with complications was higher in HEM than SOLID (17.8% vs. 15.8%, p <0.01). Age, gender, race, certain cancer therapies, and immunosuppression were HZ risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Elderly cancer patients run a 1.2-2.4 times higher risk of developing HZ than those without cancer. The rates of HZ and HZ-related complications are significantly higher for hematologic than solid cancer patients. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-015-0810-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.