Asthma sufferers are 36% more likely to develop cancer

People with asthma were found to be 36% more likely to develop cancer than people who do not suffer from the chronic respiratory disease, according to research published in the journal Cancer Medicine.

The study tracked 360,084 participants, ages 18 to 65, for eight years, including 90,021 people with asthma. In that time, those with asthma had a higher risk for developing five types of cancer – lung cancer, blood cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer and ovarian cancer – from the 13 types of cancer the researchers analyzed.

About a third of the study participants with asthma used inhaled steroids to control and prevent their asthma attacks, and the researchers found higher cancer risk among both users and nonusers. But those with asthma who used inhaled steroids had elevated risk for just two cancers (lung and melanoma), compared with higher risk for nine cancer types among nonusers – “suggesting a protective effect of inhaled steroid use on cancer,” the researchers wrote.

As a possible link between asthma and cancer, they point to the chronic inflammation associated with asthma, noting that earlier research found long-lasting inflammation conducive to cancer development and progression. Nearly 26 million people in the United States have asthma, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, including nearly 5 million children and teens under age 18. About 2 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in 2023, according to the National Cancer Institute.