Cancer Risk in Patients With Inflammatory Systemic Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases: A Nationwide Population-Based Dynamic Cohort Study in Taiwan

The aim of this study was to determine whether inflammation is related to cancer development, and whether the incidence of cancer is increased and occurs in a site-specific manner in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs). This study included a nationwide dynamic cohort of patients with various newly diagnosed SARDs from 1997 to 2010 with follow-up until 2012. This study included 75,123 patients with SARDs. During 562,870 person-years of follow-up, 2844 patients developed cancer. Between 1997 and 2010, the highest number of newly diagnosed SARDs cases were rheumatoid arthritis (n = 35,182), followed by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, n = 15,623), Sjögren syndrome (n = 11,998), Kawasaki disease (n = 3469), inflammatory bowel disease (n = 2853), scleroderma (n = 1814), Behçet disease (n = 1620), dermatomyositis (n = 1119), polymyositis (n = 811), and vasculitis other than Kawasaki disease (n = 644). A significant standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of overall cancer was observed for patients with SLE (1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28–1.56), Sjögren syndrome (1.19; 95% CI, 1.08–1.30), scleroderma (1.27; 95% CI, 1.02–1.59), dermatomyositis (4.79; 95% CI, 4.01–5.73), polymyositis (1.47; 95% CI, 1.05–2.06), vasculitis excluding Kawasaki disease (1.75; 95% CI, 1.20–2.55), and Kawasaki disease (2.88; 95% CI, 1.60–5.20). Overall, patients with most SARDs had a significantly higher risk of inflammation-associated site-specific cancers and hematologic malignancies. This study confirms that autoimmunity is associated with site-specific and hematological malignancies and provides clinical evidence of an association between inflammation and subsequent site-specific cancer development. These findings support the importance of inflammation in site-specific organ system carcinogenesis.