Inflammatory bowel disease and cancer risk

Any condition associated with chronic inflammation, particularly if it can continue for a lifetime, at least theoretically increases the risk of cancer. This alone would put children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at increased risk, but in recent years there have been grounds for greater concerns: more children with ulcerative colitis (UC) are avoiding colectomy, and some of the new biologic drugs, particularly inflixumab, present an increased risk of T-cell lymphoma. In this context, a population study from Sweden should be at least partially reassuring (Olén O et al. BMJ 2017. http://ift.tt/2AaBP9I). Using national databases, they were able to identify all children under 18 diagnosed with IBD from 1963 to 2014, and link them to cancer diagnoses at any time thereafter. There were about 9400 subjects (4650 with UC, 3750 with Crohn’s, 990 unclassified). These were compared with 10 times as many matched controls from the general population.

Overall,...

from Archives of Disease in Childhood current issue http://ift.tt/2z7oi3O