Study: SSc patients in Spain have 1.5 times higher overall cancer risk People with scleroderma (SSc) in Spain have a 1.5 times higher overall risk of cancer than the general population, according to a new study. Further, these patients were found to have a higher rate of lung, breast, and blood cancers.
The risk of cancer is higher in patients with late-onset disease, lung involvement, or specific autoantibodies — self-reactive antibodies characteristic of scleroderma.
Researchers suggested that these results may aid in developing preventive programs and in determining those individuals at increased risk for specific cancers.
“These data may help to identify SSc patients at high-risk of cancer for screening,” the team wrote.