History of asthma or eczema and cancer risk among men: a population-based case-control study in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
BACKGROUND
Epidemiologic evidence regarding the association between a history of allergic diseases and different cancer types has been inconsistent.


OBJECTIVE
To examine whether a history of asthma or eczema is associated with various cancers among Canadian men in a population based case-control study conducted in the 1980s.


METHODS
Questionnaire-based interviews were performed by a team of trained interviewers from August 1979 to March 1986. Information collected included self-reported history of a prior medical diagnosis of asthma and of eczema, medication use, and several covariates among 3,300 cancer cases and 512 population controls. Logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between asthma or eczema and more than 20 cancer types combined, as well as for each of the 8 most common cancer types (stomach, colon, rectum, lung, prostate, bladder, skin, and lymph nodes).


RESULTS
Considering study participants who reported a prior medical diagnosis of the disease and medication use, a history of asthma was negatively associated with all cancer types combined (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.5-1.1) and similarly for a history of eczema (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.4-1.1). Although ORs between asthma and eczema and most individual types were below 1.0, only 2 ORs were significantly below 1.0: that between asthma and stomach cancer (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.1-0.9) and that between eczema and lung cancer (OR, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.2-0.7).


CONCLUSIONS
Allergic conditions that result from a hyperreactive immune system might lead to a more efficient elimination of abnormal cells, thus lowering cancer risks.
El-Zein
Mariam
M
INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, Laval, Québec, Canada.
Parent
Marie-Elise
ME
Kâ
Khady
K
Siemiatycki
Jack
J
St-Pierre
Yves
Y
Rousseau
Marie-Claude
MC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004485:Eczema / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014505:Urban Population; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology