1 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Europe Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
3 Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD.
4 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
5 Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.
6 Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
Received for publication September 10, 2003; accepted for publication March 24, 2004.
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ABSTRACT |
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blood transfusion; Connecticut; lymphoma, non-Hodgkin; risk; women
Abbreviations: Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio; REAL, Revised European-American Lymphoma.
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INTRODUCTION |
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The only known risk factors for non-Hodgkins lymphoma are various primary or acquired immunosuppressions (2, 3). Allogeneic blood transfusion can induce immunosuppression (47) and has been suggested to increase the risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Allogeneic blood transfusion could also increase the risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma through engraftment of allogeneic lymphoma cells from a donor with subclinical non-Hodgkins lymphoma (8, 9) and/or transfusion-borne oncogenic viruses (10).
Several epidemiologic studies have been conducted to investigate the relation between allogeneic blood transfusion and risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The results, however, have been inconsistent, with some suggesting an increased risk (1114) and others reporting no association (1520). Two studies have suggested that risk varies by specific subtype of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (14, 21). It is also suggested that the observed association between blood transfusion and non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk could be confounded by the underlying illnesses for which transfusions are given (22), underlining the importance of examining the association by reason for blood transfusion.
Considering that a large number of people receive blood transfusions each year worldwide and that the alleged association is uncertain, we conducted a population-based case-control study in Connecticut, one of the states with the greatest confirmed increase in the incidence of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (23, 24), to investigate the hypothesis that allogeneic blood transfusion increases the risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and that this risk may vary by subtype of disease.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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To provide accurate and consistent histologic classification of cases, pathology slides (or tissue blocks) were obtained from the pathology departments where the cases were diagnosed. Each specimen was independently reviewed by two study pathologists (S. F., G. T.) who are experienced in the diagnosis of lymphoma. Non-Hodgkins lymphoma cases were classified according to both the Working Formulation and the Revised European-American Lymphoma (REAL) classification systems. The World Health Organization classification system, which is an outgrowth of the REAL classification, is utilized in both the clinical setting and epidemiologic research today. The REAL classification system was used in this paper for non-Hodgkins lymphoma subtype analyses.
Population-based controls with Connecticut addresses were recruited using random digit dialing methods for those aged less than 65 years and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services files for those aged 65 years and over. The participation rate was 69 percent for random digit dialing controls, including the initial telephone screening, and 47 percent for Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services controls. Cases and controls were frequency matched by age in 5-year groups by adjusting the number of controls randomly selected in each age stratum every few months.
Interviews
All procedures were performed in accordance with a protocol approved by human investigation committees at Yale University, the Connecticut Department of Public Health, and the National Cancer Institute. After approval by the hospitals and by each subjects physician (for cases) or following selection through random sampling (for controls), potential participants were approached by letter and/or by phone. Those who agreed were interviewed by trained study interviewers at either the subjects home or a convenient location. A standardized, structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on blood transfusion history and other major known or suspected risk factors that might confound the association between blood transfusion and risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
Regarding blood transfusion history, subjects were asked whether they had ever had a blood transfusion during their lifetime. If so, subjects were asked to provide information regarding the year and reason for each blood transfusion they had received. For this analysis, 32 subjects who had a blood transfusion within 1 year before diagnosis or interview were considered not to have received a blood transfusion since recent blood transfusion might be related to the disease itself. Autologous blood transfusion was defined as a subject who reported having a blood transfusion using her own blood. In contrast, allogeneic blood transfusion was defined as a subject who reported having a blood transfusion without using her own blood. Only six subjects (one case and five controls) had autologous blood transfusion in this study. Thus, this paper is focused on allogeneic blood transfusion.
Information on other potential confounding factors, including family history of cancer, diet, occupation, smoking, drinking, and demographic factors, was also collected during the interview. Dietary information was collected using a scannable semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire developed and validated by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (28, 29).
Data analysis
Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate the association between allogeneic blood transfusion and risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma overall and risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma subtypes. The data were also analyzed according to the reason for blood transfusion and grouped into the following four categories: blood transfusion for pregnancy and/or delivery, anemia, various surgeries, and other reasons. Potential confounding variables included in the final model were age (<50, 5070, >70 years) and family history of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in first-degree relatives. Adjustments for other variables, such as race, education, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary protein, and fat intake, did not result in material change of the observed associations and, thus, were not included in the final model. Odds ratios and 95 percent confidence intervals were calculated using SAS statistical software (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, North Carolina).
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RESULTS |
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DISCUSSION |
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Memon and Doll (11) followed 12,329 transfused infants who were identified between 1942 and 1970 through 1992, and they found that the incidence of non-Hodgkins lymphoma at age 1549 years was about twice that expected. Blomberg et al. (12) followed 1,572 hospitalized patients with blood transfusions and reported a fourfold increase in non-Hodgkins lymphoma mortality when compared with that of the general population. Cerhan et al. (13) reported a twofold increased risk among Iowa women followed for 5 years for the transfused group compared with the never transfused group, based on 66 cases. Two extended studies of the cohort of Iowa women reported relative risks of 1.9 (95 percent CI: 1.3, 2.8) after 7 years follow-up based on 114 cases (31) and of 1.6 (95 percent CI: 1.2, 2.1) after 12 years follow-up based on 229 cases (21). A major limitation of these follow-up studies is that the results were based on a relatively small number of non-Hodgkins lymphoma cases. The Iowa womens follow-up study showed a decline in relative risk as the follow-up period and number of cases increased.
Of the several case-control studies that investigated the issue, only Brandt et al. (14) reported an excess risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma overall (OR = 1.7, 95 percent CI: 1.2, 2.4) and of low-grade nodal B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (OR = 4.2, 95 percent CI: 1.9, 9.0) from allogeneic blood transfusion. A significantly increased risk of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia associated with blood transfusion for anemia was observed in our study. In contrast, all other recently completed case-control studies have reported no increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma associated with blood transfusion (1520). Of these, three studies that investigated the association by subtype showed no statistical significant associations between blood transfusion and specific non-Hodgkins lymphoma subtype (17, 18, 20).
Our study does not support an association between allogeneic blood transfusion and risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in Connecticut women. The risk did not vary on the basis of the number of blood transfusions received, age at first transfusion, and time since first blood transfusion. While an increased risk was observed for allogeneic blood transfusion due to anemia, no other reasons for blood transfusion were associated with the risk. An increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma associated with allogeneic blood transfusion due to anemia could be due to anemia itself, rather than blood transfusion, because anemia could result in immune impairment and is a known risk factor for non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The observed association could also be due to the conditions that caused anemia or the subsequent medical treatments associated with anemia. The fact that increased risk was confined to those who had transfusion for anemia within 10 years before diagnosis but not in those who had transfusion more than 10 years before diagnosis may also suggest that anemia may have been an unrecognized symptom of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Since allogeneic blood transfusion for other causes was not associated with non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk in our study, blood transfusion itself is unlikely to be the underlying reason for the observed increase in non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk.
Several reasons could be used to explain the observed inconsistent results linking allogeneic blood transfusion to non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk as reported by epidemiologic studies. One potential reason is that different studies included different types of patients with various underlying reasons for blood transfusion, as suggested by Alexander (22). The inconsistency could also be due to different treatment regimens associated with underlying disease. For example, some studies may have included more transplant and transfusion patients. Immunosuppressive treatment regimens for organ-transplanted patients have been shown to increase the risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (32).
Strengths and limitations should be considered in interpreting our results. The relatively large sample size with only females allows us to assess the relation by various blood transfusion characteristics, including type, age, number of blood transfusions, and time since first blood transfusion. Reported for the first time in our study is the relation by reason for allogeneic blood transfusion. The population-based incident cases were histologically confirmed by our study pathologists who are experienced in the diagnosis of lymphoma, allowing the study to analyze the relation by subtype of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Analysis by non-Hodgkins lymphoma subtype is important for studies of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a heterogeneous group of lymphocytic disorders ranging in aggressiveness from very indolent cellular proliferation to highly aggressive and rapidly proliferative processes.
A potential limitation of our study is that the information on blood transfusion was based on subject reporting rather than on medical record review. Although it is unlikely that subjects would have had difficulty recalling having had a blood transfusion, a rare and memorable event in ones past medical history as discussed by others (22), potential bias resulting from recall of blood transfusion and the reasons for blood transfusion cannot be entirely ruled out. This is particularly true for conditions where blood transfusion may have occurred while under anesthesia or in conjunction with other kinds of fluids. Given the paucity of the studies linking blood transfusion and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, the recall bias is more likely to be nondifferential and results in an underestimation of the observed associations.
The random digit dialing method was used to select population-based controls for those aged less than 65 years in this study. The purpose of using the random digit dialing method to select controls for those aged less than 65 years in this population-based case-control study is to use these controls to represent the population-time that produced the cases regarding exposure and other major risk factors of the disease. However, this goal may not be achieved if the coverage of telephone service is low in the source population or if a large number of randomly selected potential controls refused to participate in the study. In Connecticut, a state with comparatively high incomes, residential telephone service is widespread, with a coverage of 95 percent based on a national survey in 2000 (33). The participation rate in this study was 69 percent for random digit dialing controls, including the initial telephone screening. Moreover, since the hypothesis that allogeneic blood transfusion may induce immunosuppression and thus increase the risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma is not well known in the study population, and since the study participants and interviewers were not informed of the hypothesis of the study, it is unlikely that the decision to participate in the study was affected by exposure status.
In this study, subjects were restricted to women who had no previous diagnosis of cancer, with the exception of nonmelanoma skin cancer. Nonmelanoma skin cancer has been associated with the risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in early epidemiologic studies (3437). There were 39 subjects who reported having been previously diagnosed as having nonmelanoma skin cancer. Exclusion of these subjects from the analysis did not result in any material change for the observed association between blood transfusion and non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk.
Confounding is another potential concern for the observed association between allogeneic blood transfusion for anemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk. Since we do not have information on the type of anemia and the treatment for the disease, caution must be exercised in interpreting the observed association between allogeneic blood transfusion for anemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk.
In summary, our results from this study of Connecticut women are consistent with several recently published epidemiologic studies that do not support an association between allogeneic blood transfusion and non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk. The observed association between allogeneic blood transfusion due to anemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma risk may reflect the effects from the underlying disease (immune impairment due to anemia or the conditions that caused anemia), since no increased risk was observed for other causes of blood transfusion.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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The authors thank the institutions that allowed access to diagnostic materials and pathology reports, including the following Connecticut hospitals: Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Danbury Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, Griffin Hospital, Hartford Hospital, Johnson Memorial Hospital, Middlesex Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, New Britain General Hospital, Bradley Memorial Hospital, Norwalk Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, St. Marys Hospital, Hospital of St. Raphael, St. Vincents Medical Center, Stamford Hospital, William W. Backus Hospital, Waterbury Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Manchester Memorial Hospital, Rockville General Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Windham Hospital, Sharon Hospital, Milford Hospital, New Milford Hospital, Bristol Hospital, MidState Medical Center, and Day-Kimball Hospital. Certain data used in this study were obtained from the Connecticut Tumor Registry located in the Connecticut Department of Public Health.
The authors assume full responsibility for analyses and interpretation of these data.
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NOTES |
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REFERENCES |
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