Previous Blood Cancers May Increase Risk of Multiple Myeloma

A research team in Norway found that previous hematological malignancies were associated with a subsequent diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM), but the overall incidence of previous cancers is not increased for patients with MM.

The investigators conducted a population-based study using data from the Cancer Registry of Norway to determine if there were associations between previous diagnoses and later development of MM, as well as future risk for secondary primary malignancies (SPM) in these patients. In total, data on 9,574 patients with MM were matched with 37,810 control subjects.

Data showed earlier diagnoses of myeloproliferative neoplasia (MPN) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) were both associated with subsequent MM diagnosis (MPN odds ratio [OR], 3.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45-8.80; HL OR, 3.66; 95% CI, 1.40-9.55). Overall, the rate of previous malignancy was not significantly different between patients with MM compared with the matched controls (OR 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87-1.00). MM was found to be associated with higher risk of secondary acute myelogenous leukemia/myelodysplastic syndromes (hazard ratio 6.1; 95% CI, 3.9-9.5).

“A previous diagnosis of HL and PMF was associated with a subsequent diagnosis of MM, whereas the overall incidence of previous cancers was not increased for MM patients,” the researchers concluded.

This study was published in the European Journal of Haematology.