Study finds positive correlation between Asthma and total cancer risk

A new study by Yi Guo and team showed that in the US population, there is a positive correlation between asthma and total cancer risk. The findings of this study were published in Cancer Medicine.

One in every four fatalities in the United States is due to cancer, the second most common cause of mortality. According to earlier studies, persistent inflammation and infection may be the root cause of roughly 25% of all cancer occurrences. Complex and chronic inflammation have a significant role in the development of asthma, a common illness. In the United States, asthma affects more than 20 million people (8%) and more than 5 million children (7%) and is one of the most often diagnosed respiratory disorders. Previous research on the link between asthma and cancer has produced mixed results. Therefore, the goal of this study was to produce more data on the relationship between asthma and cancer in the United States, both generally and by cancer subtype.

Utilizing electronic health records from 2012 to 2020 and claims data from the OneFlorida+ clinical research network, a retrospective cohort analysis was carried out. An adult patient cohort with asthma (n = 90,021) and an adult patient cohort without asthma (n = 270,063) made up the research population for this investigation. In order to investigate the relationship between an asthma diagnosis and future cancer risk, Cox proportional hazards models were constructed.

The key findings of this study were;

1. In multivariable analysis, the study's findings revealed that those who had asthma had a higher risk of developing cancer than those who did not (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.36, 99% confidence interval [CI] = 1.29-1.44).

2. Patients with asthma were shown to have an increased risk of cancer, whether they used inhaled steroids or not (HR = 1.11; 99% CI: 1.03-1.21).

3. However, in studies of particular cancer types, asthma patients without inhaled steroid usage had an increased risk of nine out of thirteen cancers, whereas those with inhaled steroid use had an increased risk of just two out of thirteen cancers, indicating a protective impact of inhaled steroid use on cancer.

This is the first study to establish a link between asthma and the overall risk of cancer in the US population. The causative pathways of asthma on cancer risk require additional investigation utilizing actual data from real-world research.

Reference:

Guo, Y., Bian, J., Chen, Z., Fishe, J. N., Zhang, D., Braithwaite, D., George, T. J., Shenkman, E. A., & Licht, J. D. (2023). Cancer incidence after asthma diagnosis: Evidence from a large clinical research network in the United States. In Cancer Medicine. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.5875