Potential Link Between Kidney Disease and Increased Risk for Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Posted: Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Organ transplant recipients, patients with chronic kidney disease, or those on chronic dialysis have immune dysregulation and thus are at an increased risk for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, although this skin cancer has not been well studied among Asian populations. Chao-Hsiun Tang, PhD, of Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, and colleagues provided etiologic insights regarding Asian patients who seem to have an increased risk for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, including organ transplantation, chronic dialysis, male sex, and residence in south Taiwan. The report was published in Acta Dermato-Venereologica.
The investigators identified 23,644 patients of Asian descent with skin cancer using the Taiwan Cancer Registry Database. Of those patients, 53 were organ transplant recipients, 255 were on chronic dialysis, and 1,792 had chronic kidney disease. A total of 21,544 patients comprised the control group.
The proportion of patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in the organ transplant group, chronic dialysis group, chronic kidney disease group, and control group were 52.8%, 47.8%, 40.1%, and 33.5%, respectively. After the investigators adjusted for confounding variables, organ transplant recipients were almost twice as likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma than other skin cancers compared with the control group. Similarly, the risk for developing squamous cell carcinoma was 1.25-fold higher among patients on chronic dialysis versus the control group. Other subgroups and covariates associated with a higher risk for squamous cell carcinoma than other skin cancers included patients with kidney disease who were younger than 70 years old, men, older patients, and patients who live in south Taiwan (where there is higher solar radiation).
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