Are patients with hidradenitis suppurativa susceptible to head and neck cancer?
Investigators may have identified a risk of cancer among patients with hidradenitis suppurativa.
Although the condition is known to cause chronic systemic inflammation, there is currently little understanding regarding the cancer risk this aspect of the disease may pose.
In a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Dermatology and Therapy, the investigators used data from the PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases to analyze the prevalence of different cancer subtypes among more than 624,000 patients with hidradenitis suppurativa compared with the more than 393 million controls who participated in 11 studies.
The investigators found that compared with controls, the patients with hidradenitis suppurativa had a greater risk of developing Hodgkin lymphoma, head and neck cancer, respiratory cancers, hematologic malignancies, gastrointestinal cancers, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and cancer overall.
Despite the findings, the investigators stressed that the overall risk of cancer in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa is still low. Further studies are needed to determine the factors that may contribute to an increased risk of cancer in this patient population.
Read more: Dermatology and Therapy
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