Risk of Cancer Among Individuals With Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy in a Large, Population-Based Study

To determine whether there is an altered risk of specific cancers among individuals with Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD).

Retrospective, case-control study using data from the Utah Population Database, Utah Cancer Registry, and associated records. Cases were defined as individuals ≥40 years with a diagnosis of FECD. Controls were matched approximately 3:1 with cases on birth year, sex, whether born in Utah, and duration of follow-up in Utah. Twenty-two types/locations of cancer that were diagnosed between 1996 and 2022 were recorded. Cancer risk models were calculated using mixed-effect logistic regression, with adjustments for obesity, diabetes, tobacco use, race, ethnicity, and sex (except for sex-specific cancers). The main outcome measure was the odds of specific cancer diagnoses among FECD cases compared with matched controls.

A total of 4129 FECD cases and 12,371 controls were studied in the final analysis. A total of 885 (21.4%) FECD cases and 2514 (20.3%) controls were diagnosed with any cancer ( P = 0.126). After adjusting for covariates, FECD cases did not have an altered likelihood of having a diagnosis of cancer overall (OR: 1.06; 95% CI, 0.97-1.16; P = 0.174), or according to any of the specific cancer sites/subtypes. There was a slightly higher likelihood of thyroid cancer among FECD cases (OR: 1.55; 95% CI, 1.00-2.38; P = 0.048) and prostate cancer among male FECD cases (OR: 1.20; 95% CI, 1.01-1.43; P = 0.036) that was not statistically significant after accounting for multiple comparisons.

Individuals with FECD did not have a significantly altered risk of any of the studied cancers.