TY - JOUR
T1 - Breast, ovarian, and endometrial malignancies in systemic lupus erythematosus: a meta-analysis
AU - Bernatsky, S
AU - Ramsey-Goldman, R
AU - Foulkes, WD
AU - Gordon, Caroline
AU - Clarke, AE
PY - 2011/4/26
Y1 - 2011/4/26
N2 - BACKGROUND
An increased lymphoma risk is well documented in systemic lupus (SLE). Less attention has been focused on women's cancers, even though SLE affects mostly females. Our objective was to estimate the risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers in SLE, relative to the general population.
METHODS
Data were included from five recent studies of large SLE cohorts. The number of cancers observed was determined for each cancer type. The expected number of malignancies was ascertained from general population data. The parameter of interest was the standardised incidence ratio (SIR), the ratio of observed to expected malignancies.
RESULTS
The five studies included 47,325 SLE patients (42,171 females) observed for 282,553 patient years. There were 376 breast cancers, 66 endometrial cancers, and 44 ovarian cancers. The total number of cancers observed was less than that expected, with SIRs of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.85) for breast cancer, 0.71 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.91) for endometrial cancer, and 0.66 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.90) for ovarian cancer.
CONCLUSIONS
Data strongly support a decreased risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers in SLE. This may be due to inherent differences in women in SLE (vs the general population) regarding endogenous oestrogen, other medications, and/or genetic make-up.
AB - BACKGROUND
An increased lymphoma risk is well documented in systemic lupus (SLE). Less attention has been focused on women's cancers, even though SLE affects mostly females. Our objective was to estimate the risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers in SLE, relative to the general population.
METHODS
Data were included from five recent studies of large SLE cohorts. The number of cancers observed was determined for each cancer type. The expected number of malignancies was ascertained from general population data. The parameter of interest was the standardised incidence ratio (SIR), the ratio of observed to expected malignancies.
RESULTS
The five studies included 47,325 SLE patients (42,171 females) observed for 282,553 patient years. There were 376 breast cancers, 66 endometrial cancers, and 44 ovarian cancers. The total number of cancers observed was less than that expected, with SIRs of 0.76 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.85) for breast cancer, 0.71 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.91) for endometrial cancer, and 0.66 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.90) for ovarian cancer.
CONCLUSIONS
Data strongly support a decreased risk of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers in SLE. This may be due to inherent differences in women in SLE (vs the general population) regarding endogenous oestrogen, other medications, and/or genetic make-up.
U2 - 10.1038/bjc.2011.115
DO - 10.1038/bjc.2011.115
M3 - Article
C2 - 21487409
VL - 104
SP - 1478
EP - 1481
JO - British Journal of Cancer
JF - British Journal of Cancer
IS - 9
ER -