Medical history and risk of lymphoma: Results of a European case-control study (EPILYMPH)

  • Nikolaus Becker
  • , Joan Fortuny
  • , Tomas Alvaro
  • , Alexandra Nieters
  • , Marc Maynadié
  • , Lenka Foretova
  • , Anthony Staines
  • , Paul Brennan
  • , Paolo Boffetta
  • , Pier Luigi Cocco
  • , Silvia De Sanjose

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Introduction: Lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of immune-cell malignancies. Immunology-related conditions are among the few factors for which consistent evidence exists relating them to lymphoma risk. Materials and methods: We used the data from the European case-control study Epilymph on 2,362 lymphoma cases and 2,458 controls to investigate associations between a medical history of infectious and non-infectious diseases with overall and subentity-specific lymphoma risk. Results: As key results, we observed an increased odds ratio (OR) for self-reported infections with hepatitis B virus (HBV, OR = 1.91, 95% CL = 1.24-2.94) and a null result for rheumatoid arthritis. Additionally, we found an increased OR for infectious mononucleosis (OR = 1.68, 95% CL = 1.14-2.48), an inverse association to frequency of sickness in childhood (OR = 0.68, 95% CL = 0.55-0.84), and-as casual finding-an increased OR with acetaminophen intake (OR = 2.29, 95% CL = 1.49-3.51). Conclusion: Our results are consistent with the current knowledge about the association with mononucleosis as indicator of Epstein-Barr-virus infection, suggest serological study of the association to HBV infection and do not support the view of a positive association between rheumatoid arthritis and lymphoma risk.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1099-1107
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology
Volume135
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Acetaminophen
  • Case-control study
  • Epidemiology
  • Epstein-Barr virus
  • Hepatitis B
  • Infectious mononucleosis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis

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