Cancer risk in tuberculosis patients in a high endemic area

Background Tuberculosis (TB) may facilitate carcinogenesis. We performed a case-control study of the association between TB and cancer in Xinjiang, a high TB endemic area of China. Methods From January 2016 to December 2018, a total of 45,455 patients hospitalized in Xinjiang Cancer Hospital were consecutively enrolled and divided into a malignant tumor group (n = 32,539) and a benign tumor group (n = 12,916). Patients with active and previous TB before the diagnosis of cancer were retrospectively identified in the two groups. Results A significantly higher proportion of TB was found in the malignant tumor group (n = 1776, 5.46%) than in the control (benign tumor) group (n = 175, 1.35%) (p Conclusion TB patients have an elevated cancer risk. A screening strategy for TB should be taken into consideration before treatment in patients with some cancer types that are associated with a high proportion of TB.