Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Herpes zoster (HZ) is associated with underlying immunodeficiency and may thereby predict mortality of subsequent cancer.Methods
By using Danish nationwide medical databases, we identified all cancer patients with a prior hospital-based HZ diagnosis during 1982-2011 (n=2754) and a matched cancer cohort without prior HZ (n=26 243). We computed adjusted mortality rate ratios (aMRRs) associating prior HZ with mortality following cancer.Results
Prior HZ was associated with decreased mortality within the year after cancer diagnosis (aMRR 0.87; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.81-0.93), but not thereafter (aMRR 1.07; 95% CI: 0.99-1.15). However, prior HZ predicted increased mortality throughout the entire follow-up among patients aged <60 years (aMRR 1.39; 95% CI: 1.15-1.68) and those with disseminated HZ (aMRR 1.18; 95% CI: 1.01-1.37). The increased mortality rates were observed primarily for haematological and immune-related cancers.Conclusions
Overall, HZ was not a predictor of increased mortality following subsequent cancer.
SUBMITTER: Schmidt SA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4647253 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Schmidt S A J SA Sørensen G V GV Horváth-Puhó E E Pedersen L L Obel N N Petersen K L KL Schønheyder H C HC Sørensen H T HT
British journal of cancer 20150416 11
<h4>Background</h4>Herpes zoster (HZ) is associated with underlying immunodeficiency and may thereby predict mortality of subsequent cancer.<h4>Methods</h4>By using Danish nationwide medical databases, we identified all cancer patients with a prior hospital-based HZ diagnosis during 1982-2011 (n=2754) and a matched cancer cohort without prior HZ (n=26 243). We computed adjusted mortality rate ratios (aMRRs) associating prior HZ with mortality following cancer.<h4>Results</h4>Prior HZ was associa ...[more]