Nasal polyps linked to nasal cancers in seniors

Elderly adults with nasal polyps suffer from elevated relative risks of nasopharyngeal and nasal cavity and paranasal sinus (NCPS) cancers, a recent study has found.

The longitudinal retrospective study included 453,892 participants (59.45 percent male) with nasal polyps and 4,583,938 matched comparators (59.45 percent male). Cancers of the nasopharynx and the NCPS were the study’s primary outcomes, while malignancies of the larynx and hypopharynx were also included in the analysis.

Over a mean follow-up of 6.2 years, the annual crude incidence rates of NCPS and nasopharyngeal cancers in participants with nasal polyps were 2.66 and 1.46 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. Hypopharyngeal and laryngeal malignancies, in comparison, had rates of 0.87 and 3.14 per 100,000 person-years.

Patients with nasal polyps were significantly more likely to develop NCPS (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 7.00, 95 percent CI, 5.28–9.25) and nasopharyngeal (IRR, 1.78, 1.28–2.42) cancers than their matched comparators. The corresponding risk estimates for laryngeal and hypopharyngeal malignancies failed to reach statistical significance.

Multivariate Cox regression analysis confirmed the positive association between nasal polyps and risks of NCPS (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 6.24, 4.70–8.28) and nasopharyngeal (adjusted HR, 1.58, 1.16–2.16) cancers.

Subsequent subgroup analyses found that nasal polyps were reliably correlated with the risk of NCPS cancer in participants at least 50 years of age, regardless of asthma comorbidity (with: adjusted HR, 4.84, 1.86–12.59; without: adjusted HR, 7.48, 5.30–10.54).

A similar pattern of effect was observed for nasopharyngeal cancer, though the lack of asthma comorbidity attenuated its significant relationship with nasal polyps regardless of age.