Malignancies with Giant Cell Arteritis Save

The Journal of Rheumatology reports the findings of a Swedish population-based cohort study of biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients showing that the overall risk for cancer was not increased; yet there appears to be an increased risk for leukemia and a decreased risk for breast and upper gastrointestinal tract cancers.   

A total of 830 patients (mean age at diagnosis 75.3 yrs) who were diagnosed with biopsy-proven GCA between 1997 and 2010. After linking to the Swedish Cancer and Death Registers, they identified 107 patients (with 118 new malignancies) who were diagnosed with cancer after the onset of GCA.

The overall risk for cancer after the GCA diagnosis was not increased (SIR 0.98, 95% CI 0.81–1.17).

But there was an increased risk for myeloid leukemia (2.31, 95% CI 1.06–4.39) and a reduced risk for breast cancer (0.33, 95% CI 0.12–0.72) and upper gastrointestinal tract cancer (0.16, 95% 0.004–0.91).