CANCER IN ASSOCIATION WITH POLYMYALGIA-RHEUMATICA AND TEMPORAL ARTERITIS

In our prospective controlled study, a total of 185 patients with poly myalgia rheumatica (PMR) and temporal arteritis (TA) diagnosed during 1978-83 and their 925 matched controls were cross checked with the dat a riles at the Cancer Registry of Norway at the end of 1987. Malignanc y was registerd in 27 patients (14.6%) and 131 controls (14.2%) betwee n 1953 and the end of 1987. Malignancy was registered in 16 (24.6%) of the patients with biopsy demonstrating arteritis temporalis. The haza rd rate for developing malignancy after diagnosis for the whole patien t population was not significantly different from the controls. The ha zard rate for developing malignancy in patients with positive biopsy, however, was 2.35 times higher than in the controls (p = 0.036) and 4. 40 times higher than the rest of the patient population (p = 0.007) (C ox proportional hazards model). The general long interval between diag nosis of PMR and/or TA and registration of malignancy (mean 6.5 years) is not consistent with a paraneoplastic mechanism.