TOPLINE:

In a study, solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients had higher prevalences of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, in addition to the known increased skin cancer risk, than healthy individuals.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers performed a retrospective study of 10,767 SOT recipients (mean age, 51.67 years; 39% women; 33.2% White, 19.2% Black, and 16.6% Hispanic) from the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City and compared them with 10,000 randomly sampled healthy individuals.
• They compared prevalence rates for dermatologic and systemic comorbidities between transplant recipients and control individuals.

TAKEAWAY:

• SOT recipients showed a markedly higher risk for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 23.37; P < .001), basal cell carcinoma (aRR, 9.06; P < .001), melanoma (aRR, 2.76; P < .001), and actinic keratosis (aRR, 2.42; P < .001) than healthy individuals.
• Several autoimmune and inflammatory conditions were more common among SOT recipients, including ulcerative colitis (aRR, 6.53; P < .001); Crohn’s disease (aRR, 1.82; P < .001); systemic lupus erythematosus (aRR, 4.89; P < .001); lupus, unspecified (aRR, 4.89; P < .001); prurigo nodularis (aRR, 7.79); and bullous pemphigoid (aRR, 8.03; P < .05).
• The prevalence of common inflammatory dermatoses such as atopic dermatitis, acne vulgaris, and rosacea were not increased among SOT patients; however, they were at a lower risk for acne vulgaris (aRR, 0.79; P < .05).
• The pattern of increased inflammatory conditions was most pronounced in kidney and liver transplant recipients but was evident across all transplant groups.

IN PRACTICE:

“Our findings confirm a known increase in skin cancers, along with preliminary data suggesting increased relative risks of autoimmune blistering conditions, connective tissue diseases, and inflammatory bowel disease in transplant patients,” the study authors wrote. “Understanding skin conditions that affect our growing population of transplant patients and characterizing their comorbidities can help direct treatment plans for SOT patients,” they added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Isabel C. Silva, Department of Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and was published online on November 18 in JAAD International.

LIMITATIONS:

The researchers could not determine the underlying indication for transplantation and whether it was related to autoimmune or inflammatory skin disease and associated treatments.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, and the Kimberly and Eric J. Waldman Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center at Mount Sinai. The authors reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.