CANCER RISK IN PRIMARY BILIARY-CIRRHOSIS - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY FROM SWEDEN

A cohort of 559 patients in Sweden who satisfied predetermined criteri a for the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis was followed with res pect to the incidence of cancer during the period of 1958 to 1988. The mean follow-up time from the time of primary biliary cirrhosis diagno sis was 9.0 +/- 5.4 yr. During the follow-up period, 148 patients died and the primary cause of death was liver insufficiency. An overall ex cess risk for cancer, standardized incidence ratio 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 2.2, was found in the cohort. In contrast to previou s reports, we found no excess risk for breast cancer (standardized inc idence ratio, 0.9; 95% confidence interval, 0.3 to 2.1). The number of hepatocellular cancers in the primary biliary cirrhosis cohort did no t significantly differ from expected (standardized incidence ratio, 2. 91; 95% confidence interval, 0.4 to 10.5).