Abstract
Transplant recipients have elevated cancer risk, but it is unknown if cancer risk differs across race and ethnicity as in the general population. US kidney recipients (N = 87,895) in the Transplant Cancer Match Study between 1992 and 2008 were evaluated for racial/ethnic differences in risk for six common cancers after transplantation. Compared to white recipients, black recipients had lower incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] 0.60, p<0.001) and higher incidence of kidney (aIRR 2.09, p<0.001) and prostate cancer (aIRR 2.14, p<0.001); Hispanic recipients had lower incidence of NHL (aIRR 0.64, p = 0.001), lung (aIRR 0.41, p < 0.001), breast (aIRR 0.53, p = 0.003) and prostate cancer (aIRR 0.72, p = 0.05). Colorectal cancer incidence was similar across groups. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) measured the effect of transplantation on cancer risk and were similar for most cancers (p≥0.1). However, black and Hispanic recipients had larger increases in kidney cancer risk with transplantation (SIRs: 8.96 in blacks, 5.95 in Hispanics vs. 4.44 in whites), and only blacks had elevated prostate cancer risk following transplantation (SIR: 1.21). Racial/ethnic differences in cancer risk after transplantation mirror general population patterns, except for kidney and prostate cancers where differences reflect the effects of end-stage renal disease or transplantation.