Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) may be more likely to develop cancer, a new study has suggested.
Dr Li-Min Sun from the Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital in Taiwan carried out an analysis on 1,292 patients who were diagnosed with MS between 1997 and 2010, with each person matched with four others without the condition to act as controls.
It was found that individuals with MS were 85 per cent more likely to develop cancer than the controls, with the risk of breast cancer particularly high.
This appears to contradict previous studies suggesting there is no link between the two illnesses. Writing in the European Journal of Neurology, Dr Sun admitted the results were surprising and said it may be that the Taiwanese genetic make-up has played a part.
'Additional large-scale studies will help improve our understanding,' he added.
Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with MS each year.