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Published on: October 13, 2023
Multiple sclerosis and risk of young-adult-onset Hodgkin lymphoma
Scott Montgomery1, Mohammadhossein Hajiebrahimi1, Sarah Burkill1
1Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (S.M.), School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden; Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (S.M.), University College London, UK; Clinical Epidemiology Unit (S.M., M.H.H., S. Burkill, S. Bahmanyar) and Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology (S. Bahmanyar), Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet; Department of Neurology (J.H., T.O.), Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm; Neuroimmunology Unit (J.H.), Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Centre for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden; and Faculty of Medicine (S. Bahmanyar), Golestan University of Medical Sciences, Gorgan, Iran.
Objective:
To determine whether there is an association between multiple sclerosis (MS) and young-adult-onset Hodgkin lymphoma (YAHL) as this will signal etiologic similarities relevant both to inherited characteristics and environmental exposures in childhood.
Methods:
Swedish general population registers identified a cohort of 29,617 with an MS diagnosis between 1968 and 2012, matched with a cohort of 296,164 without MS. Cox regression was used to assess the association of MS with subsequent YAHL (defined as onset between ages 15 and 39 years; n = 20), with adjustment, for age/period, sex, county of residence, and level of education.
Results:
The adjusted hazard ratio (and 95% confidence interval) for the association of MS with YAHL is 3.30 (1.01-10.73), resulting from 4 and 16 events in the MS and non-MS cohorts, respectively. All 4 of the YAHL diagnoses in MS occurred in women, and the association of MS with YAHL has a hazard ratio of 4.04 (1.17-13.94) among women. There was no notable association of MS with older-onset Hodgkin lymphoma.
Conclusion:
There may be common risks for YAHL and MS, consistent with an etiologic role in MS for early-life exposures, such as to infectious agents.
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