Young-adult-onset (15-44 years of age) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is believed to arise as a consequence of late primary infection in susceptible individuals. The properties of this susceptibility remain little understood. We have previously reported an increased occurrence of HL in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and among their offspring, suggesting that susceptibility to autoimmunity might be of importance also in the pathogenesis of HL. To explore this hypothesis, we assessed the association of personal and family history of diabetes mellitus, with risk of subsequent HL in a population-based case-control study, including as cases all individuals diagnosed with HL above 15 years of age 1964-1999 (n = 6,873) in Sweden, and matched population controls (n = 12,565). First-degree relatives of cases and controls were identified through linkage with the Multi-generation Register. We identified discharges listing diabetes mellitus through linkage with the Inpatient Register (1964-2000). We used odds ratios (OR) as measures of relative risk. Cases with young-adult-onset HL were less likely to have a personal (OR =0.5, 95% CI 0.2-1.1) or family (OR =0.7, 95% CI 0.6-0.8) history of diabetes mellitus. In contrast, HL diagnosed at older ages was neither associated with a personal (OR =1.0) nor family (OR =1.0) history of diabetes mellitus. These findings suggests that characteristics of the immune system associated with conditions such as diabetes mellitus type I are of importance in the pathogenesis of young-adult-onset HL.
Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.