Risk of cancer after blood transfusion from donors with subclinical cancer: a retrospective cohort study.
BACKGROUND
Although mechanisms for detection of short-term complications after blood transfusions are well developed, complications with delayed onset, notably transmission of chronic diseases such as cancer, have been difficult to assess. Our aim was to investigate the possible risk of cancer transmission from blood donors to recipients through blood transfusion.


METHODS
We did a register-based retrospective cohort study of cancer incidence among patients who received blood from donors deemed to have a subclinical cancer at the time of donation. These precancerous donors were diagnosed with a cancer within 5 years of the donation. Data from all computerised blood bank registers in Sweden and Denmark gathered between 1968 and 2002 were merged into a common database. Demographic and medical data, including mortality and cancer incidence, were ascertained through linkages with nationwide, and essentially complete, population and health-care registers. The risk of cancer in exposed recipients relative to that in recipients who received blood from non-cancerous donors was estimated with multivariate Poisson regression, adjusting for potential confounding factors.


RESULTS
Of the 354 094 transfusion recipients eligible for this analysis, 12,012 (3%) were exposed to blood products from precancerous donors. There was no excess risk of cancer overall (adjusted relative risk 1.00, 95% CI 0.94-1.07) or in crude anatomical subsites among recipients of blood from precancerous donors compared with recipients of blood from non-cancerous donors.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data provide no evidence that blood transfusions from precancerous blood donors are associated with increased risk of cancer among recipients compared with transfusions from non-cancerous donors.
Edgren
Gustaf
G
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Hjalgrim
Henrik
H
Reilly
Marie
M
Tran
Trung Nam
TN
Rostgaard
Klaus
K
Shanwell
Agneta
A
Titlestad
Kjell
K
Adami
Johanna
J
Wikman
Agneta
A
Jersild
Casper
C
Gridley
Gloria
G
Wideroff
Louise
L
Nyrén
Olof
O
Melbye
Mads
M
D015331:Cohort Studies; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden; D065227:Transfusion Reaction