Objective

To describe non-lymphoma hematological malignancies in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods

A large SLE cohort was linked to cancer registries. We examined the types of non-lymphoma hematological cancers.

Results

In 16,409 patients, 115 hematological cancers [including myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)] occurred. Among these, 33 were non-lymphoma. Of the 33 non-lymphoma cases, 13 were of lymphoid lineage: multiple myeloma (n = 5), plasmacytoma (n = 3), B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL; n = 3), precursor cell lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 1) and unspecified lymphoid leukemia (n = 1). The remaining 20 cases were of myeloid lineage: MDS (n = 7), acute myeloid leukemia (AML; n = 7), chronic myeloid leukemia (CML; n = 2) and 4 unspecified leukemias. Most of these malignancies occurred in female Caucasians, except for plasma cell neoplasms (4/5 multiple myeloma and 1/3 plasmacytoma cases occurred in blacks).

Conclusions

In this large SLE cohort, the most common non-lymphoma hematological malignancies were myeloid types (MDS and AML). This is in contrast to the general population, where lymphoid types are 1.7 times more common than myeloid non-lymphoma hematological malignancies. Most (80%) multiple myeloma cases occurred in blacks; this requires further investigation.