Risk of Cancer in Patients With Crohn’s Disease 30 Years After Diagnosis (the IBSEN Study)

Abstract

Background Patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) are most often diagnosed as young adults, therefore long-term studies are needed to assess the risk of cancer over their lifetime. Thus, the aims of the present study were to determine the risk of cancer in a Norwegian population-based cohort (the IBSEN study), 30 years after diagnosis, and to assess whether patients with CD were at an increased risk of specific cancer types. Methods The IBSEN cohort prospectively included all incident patients diagnosed between 1990 and 1993. Data on cancer incidence were obtained from the Cancer Registry of Norway. Overall and cancer specific hazard ratios (HR) for CD patients compared with age- and sex- matched controls were modelled using Cox regression. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) were estimated compared to the general population. Results In total the cohort included 237 patients with CD, and 36 of them were diagnosed with cancer. Compared to the general Norwegian population, patients with CD had an increased overall risk of cancer (HR=1.56, 95% CI: [1.06-2.28]), particularly male patients (HR=1.85, 95% CI: [1.08-3.16]). The incidence of lung cancer and non-melanoma skin cancer were increased, however the difference was not statistically significant (SIR=2.29, 95%CI: [0.92-4.27] and SIR=2.45, 95%CI: [0.67-5.37] respectively). Conclusions After 30 years of follow-up, the risk of all cancers in patients with CD was increased compared to the general population.