Myelofibrosis Associated With Subsequent Development of Multiple Myeloma

A study published in the European Journal of Haematology found that a diagnosis of primary myelofibrosis (MF) or Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is associated with a subsequent diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM).

Researchers used data from the Cancer Registry of Norway to identify 9,574 adult patients with MM who were diagnosed between January 1, 1982, and December 31, 2013. These patients were matched 4:1 with 37,810 controls based on sex, year of birth, and county of residence. The association between previous malignancies and a subsequent diagnosis of MM was analyzed by a logistic regression model, and the risk for secondary primary malignancy was analyzed by a Cox model.

Among patients with MM, 976 (10.2%) had at least one previous malignancy, the most common of which were prostate, colorectal, breast, and gynecologic cancers. A previous hematologic malignancy was associated with MM (odds ratio [OR], 1.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21‐2.06), and previous diagnosis of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN; OR, 3.57; 95% CI, 1.45‐8.80) or HL (OR, 3.66; 95% CI, 1.40‐9.55) were statistically significantly associated with the development of MM.

Overall, there was no difference in the presence of previous cancers between the MM and control groups (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87‐1.00), and a previous solid cancer had a negative association with MM (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.83‐0.97).

For MPN, the association with MM was explained by an excess of primary MF in the MM group. Patients with MM had a sixfold increased risk for secondary acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes (hazard ratio, 6.1; 95% CI, 3.9‐9.5).