Juvenile Arthritis or Down's Syndrome and Cancer?

[Java Mama]

If you have a child with juvenile arthritis and Down's syndrome, which one would be more likely to get cancer? I would think that that since juvenile arthritis is an auto-immune disease, it would be more likely to happen in that case than a child with Down's syndrome. This was a discussion in class and some of us feel we were right. I tried finding information on any website, but am not having any luck. Does anyone have a website that would have this info? Thanks.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Try searching "risk for cancer Down syndrome" and " ... juvenile arthritis." You might also ask some nurse practitioners who work with these populations for leads. Your opinions aren't worth much without data. :)

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

You also need to consider what meds they are on for treatment and how the incidence os cancer compares to the treatment choices.

[drowningdaily]

As a mother of a child with rheum arthritis, I would tend to believe it is the RA child. Many of the meds my son has been on have had a black box warning for lymphomas and other types of cancers. I also think an auto-immune disease like arthritis could increase your risk. But, this is not my clinical area, so it is just a guess.

[brithoover]

RA children have about a 2-4 times higher chance of getting lymphoma type cancer and Down children have a 20 times higher chance of getting leukemia

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

RA children have about a 2-4 times higher chance of getting lymphoma type cancer and Down children have a 20 times higher chance of getting leukemia

See what you can find out when you search? Gold star, brithoover. :flwrhrts:

Now, OP, what does that mean? Compared to ... ?

[aeonic]

Good work, brithoover!

References for those?

[brithoover]

I work in peds heme/onc. We study from APHON text: Essentials of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nursing