Is the Risk of Motor Neuron Disease Increased or Decreased after Cancer? An Australian Case-Control Study

Cancer appears to be inversely associated with both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The relationship between cancer and sporadic motor neuron disease (SMND), however, remains uncertain. Most previous cancer-SMND studies have been undertaken in northern hemisphere populations. We therefore undertook a case-control study to see if a link between cancer and SMND exists in an Australian population. A questionnaire was used to compare past cancer diagnoses in 739 SMND patients and 622 controls, recruited across Australia. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to look for associations between cancer and SMND. A history of cancer was not associated either positively or negatively with a risk of subsequent SMND. This result remained when age, gender, smoking status, and the four SMND diagnostic subgroups were taken into account. No association was observed between SMND and specific tumours, including melanoma, a common malignancy in Australia. In conclusion, this Australian case-control study does not support an association between a past history of cancer and the development of SMND. This suggests that some pathogenetic mechanisms, such as apoptosis, are less relevant in SMND than in other neurodegenerative diseases where negative associations with cancer have been found.