People with asthma have higher risk of cancer, and not just in lungs: study

People with asthma are more likely than people without to develop cancer, according to a new study. 

A study conducted by University of Florida researchers and published in the journal Cancer Medicine found people with the respiratory condition were 36 percent more likely than people without asthma to develop cancer.

The cancer risk was elevated with statistical significance in 5 of 13 cancers analyzed in the study, not merely in cancers related to the respiratory system: lung cancer, blood cancer, kidney cancer, melanoma and ovarian cancer. 

The study, researchers assert, is the first “to report a positive association between asthma and overall cancer risk in the US population.”

Cancer risk was elevated for 9 of 13 cancers in asthma patients who didn’t use inhaled steroids to treat the condition, while increased risk was only observed for two of the cancers in patients who used the inhaled steroids, “suggesting a protective effect” of the usage.

“Our findings suggest that more research is needed to further examine the mechanisms through which asthma is associated with cancer, given the prevalence of asthma,” Yi Guo, associate professor in the department of health outcomes and biomedical informatics in the University of Florida’s College of Medicine, said in an update from UF Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 25 million asthma cases were logged in the U.S. in 2020.