Contact: Mary Hardin, Public and Media Relations, Indiana University School of Medicine, 317-274-7722, mhardin@iupui.edu
Glucocorticoid Prescriptions Associated with Risk of Skin Cancers, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Glucocorticoid treatment may be associated with an increased risk of developing skin cancers and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to a new study. Glucocorticoids are a group of immunosuppressive drugs, such as prednisone, that are used to treat acute and chronic inflammatory diseases.
Henrik Toft Srensen, M.D., Ph.D., of Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark, and colleagues identified 59,043 individuals from the North Jutland Prescription Database--a computerized pharmacy database of prescriptions in Denmark--who had received a glucocorticoid prescription between 1989 and 1996. Data for these individuals were linked to the Danish Cancer Registry, which collects information on all people diagnosed with cancer. The number of actual cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and skin cancers, including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma, among people receiving glucocorticoid prescriptions were compared with the expected number. There were more cases of all these cancers than expected, particularly among people who had received 15 or more glucocorticoid prescriptions, indicating that use of glucocorticoids may be a shared risk factor for certain cancers and lymphomas.
Contact: Henrik Toft Srensen, Aarhus University Hospital, 45-89-42-6077, hts@soci.au.dk
Scientists Develop Method That May Detect Breast Cancer Metastasis
A new method that allows researchers to vi
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Contact: Sarah Zielinski
jncimedia@oupjournals.org
301-841-1287
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
4-May-2004