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Asthma, eczema, hay fever inversely linked to lung cancer

Source/Disclosures Source: El-Zein M. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2014;112:230-236. ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.



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Asthma, eczema and hay fever were inversely associated with lung cancer in a study that also found that the strength of the protective effect varied, according to researchers.

“The risk estimates for all allergic diseases tended to point toward an inverse relation with lung cancer, which was weaker for asthma, of moderate strength for eczema, and strongest for hay fever,” Mariam El-Zein, PhD, of the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, at the Université du Québec, and colleagues wrote.

Varying data have demonstrated support for two hypotheses. An antigenic hypothesis proposes that immune-stimulating conditions increase cancer risk through a mechanism of chronic stimulation of cells that results in random mutations. An immune surveillance hypothesis suggests a protective effect of allergic diseases against cancer occurrence from an enhanced immune system capable of detecting and destroying neoplastic cells, the researchers said.

Data from the Montreal Lung Cancer Case-Control study (1996–2002) included 1,169 incident lung cancer cases and 1,486 controls, aged 35 to 75 years.

Patients with asthma demonstrated a risk for lung cancer (OR=0.9; 95% CI, 0.65-1.24), which decreased to 0.76 (95% CI, 0.54-1.08) for patients whose onset was more than 2 years before a lung cancer diagnosis or interview. When the study was restricted to patients who reported using asthma medication, the OR was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.44-0.93).

Patients with eczema exhibited a greater point estimate (OR=0.73; 95% CI, 0.48-1.12), which decreased (0.63; 95% CI, 0.38-1.07) when researchers considered eczema only in those who reported medication use.

Those with hay fever displayed the greatest inverse association with lung cancer (OR=0.37; 95% CI, 0.24-0.59), according to data, which dropped with reported medication use (OR=0.33; 95% CI, 0.19-0.59).

These data may indicate a shared underlying mechanism that allergic diseases and lung cancer may be related, but further study is warranted, researchers concluded.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.