It has previously been shown that type I allergy (asthma, rhinitis) is inversly associated to different cancer types, which has been explanin by immunosurveillance. Immunosurveillance is the theory, that perons with allergic diseases have a more active and alert immunesystem, which may lead to an earlier detection of malignant cells.

This is the first study, which investigate contact allergy in relation to cancer. In the study we found, that contact allergy is inversly associated with non-melanoma skin cancer (ordinary skin cancer), breast cancer and brain cancer, which indicate the same alert immune system as in type I allergy. Further more we found an increased risk of bladder cancer in patients with contact allergy, which may be explained by an accumulation of metabolites from the contact allergens in urine, which may act as carcinogens eg. hair dye substances.

A relationship between cancer and contact allergy has not been investigated previously using such validated databases as in the current study. The findings point to that contact allergy should be seen in a larger context and investigations should be perforemd om the systemic effects of contact allergy.

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