Incidence of cancer in 98 patients with common varied immunodeficiency

Abstract

Ninety-eight patients with common varied immunodeficiency have been observed for periods of 1–13 years. In 1986, 78 were alive, 19 had died, and 1 could not be located. Eleven patients in the group had developed cancer; two patients had had two cancers. Of the total number of neoplastic malignancies, seven were non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, one patient had a Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, and nine of the patients who developed cancer were female. Cancer developed in the fifth or sixth decade of life for 10 of the 11 patients. These data show an 8- to 13-fold increase in cancer in general for patients who have this immunodeficiency and a 438-fold increase in lymphoma for females.