Autoimmune Skin Diseases Linked to Better Cancer Survival: Study
Key Takeaways
Cancer patients with autoimmune skin diseases had lower all-cause and cancer-specific mortality rates than those without ASDs.
Alopecia areata and Sjögren syndrome were particularly associated with improved outcomes.
Patients with autoimmune skin diseases (ASDs) who undergo cancer treatment may experience improved survival outcomes compared to those without ASDs, a new population-based study from Taiwan suggests.
Using data derived from Taiwan’s Nationwide Cancer Registry and National Health Insurance Database, the study evaluated 197,895 patients who received chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy between 2019, and 2021. More than 26,000 had a diagnosis of ASD (including conditions such as alopecia areata, vitiligo, psoriasis, and cutaneous lupus erythematosus) and 171,887 did not. The ASD group had a mean age of 64.0 years and was predominantly female (57.6%).
Using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and propensity score matching to adjust for confounding variables, the results showed a reduction in both all-cause and cancer-specific mortality among patients with ASDs. The IPTW-adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality was 0.94 (95% CI, 0.92 to 0.96); the subdistribution hazard ratio for cancer-specific mortality was also 0.94 (95% CI, 0.92 to 0.96). Alopecia areata and Sjögren syndrome were consistently associated with the lowest mortality risks across ASD subtypes. These associations remained robust even in matched cohort analyses.
“This population-based cohort study found that patients with ASDs had significantly better cancer survival outcomes than those without ASDs,” the authors concluded. “This finding suggests that there is a potential immunological association between ASDs and cancer prognoses, highlighting the need for further investigation into the underlying mechanisms and the implications for oncologic management.”
Source: To SY, et al. JAMA Dermatology. 2025. doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2025.1949