Sebaceous hyperplasia and skin cancer in patients undergoing renal transplant

J Am Acad Dermatol. 2006 Nov;55(5):878-81. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2005.09.041. Epub 2006 Sep 1.

Abstract

Background: One previous study has shown a higher prevalence of sebaceous hyperplasia (SH) in patients with heart transplant on immunosuppressive drugs as compared with sex-matched control patients.

Objective: We set out to compare the prevalence of SH in a cohort of patients undergoing renal transplant with age- and sex-matched control patients and to find any association with nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in these patients.

Methods: In all, 117 patients with renal transplant and 117 age- and sex-matched control patients were screened for the prevalence of SH and NMSC.

Results: We found that 29.9% of our patients with renal transplant had SH; 16 of 35 (45.7%) of these patients had a history of NMSC as compared with 6 of 82 (7.3%) patients without SH (P < .001, odds ratio 10.7). In the age- and sex-matched control group, a total of 28 patients (23.9%) had one or more lesions of SH.

Limitations: This study is small and will require confirmation with larger cohort studies.

Conclusions: In our cohort of patients with renal transplant we found a strong association of NMSC with SH. This association remained significant after correction of factors such as age, sex, skin type, and duration of transplant.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hyperplasia
  • Kidney Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Prevalence
  • Sebaceous Glands / pathology*
  • Skin Diseases / epidemiology
  • Skin Diseases / etiology*
  • Skin Diseases / pathology*
  • Skin Neoplasms / epidemiology
  • Skin Neoplasms / etiology*
  • United Kingdom / epidemiology