Systemic lupus erythematous increased lung cancer risk: Evidence from a meta-analysis

Several studies suggested that systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were associated with the risk of lung cancer. However, other studies did not confirm the result. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate this association.

A systematic literature search was conducted using the PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WANFANG databases for relevant published articles. The strength of the associations between SLE and lung cancer risk was measured by odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CIs).

All 12 studies, involving a total of 57,890 SLE patients were included in the meta-analysis. A statistically significant association between SLE and lung cancer risk was found. The data showed that SLE patients had an increased lung cancer risk (OR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.44-1.77; P < 0.00001). In the subgroup analysis of study design, population and hospital based studies also showed an increased lung cancer risks (OR = 1.68; 95% CI: 1.49-1.89; P < 0.00001; OR = 1.38; 95% CI: 1.12-1.69; P = 0.002). In the subgroup analysis of follow-up duration, significant results were observed in the study with more than 10 years (OR = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.08-2.73; P = 0.02) and < 10 years (OR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.43-1.77; P < 0.00001), respectively. In addition, studies with large and small sample size also showed an increased lung cancer risk (OR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.42-1.76; P < 0.00001; OR = 1.76; 95% CI: 1.16-2.67; P = 0.007).

This meta-analysis suggested that SLE was associated with an increased lung cancer risk.