More evidence of the hidradenitis suppurativa-lymphoma link

Sift through the peer-reviewed medical literature and you will come across a handful of studies showing that hidradenitis suppurativa increases the risk of developing lymphoma. An oft-cited study published in JAMA Dermatology in 2019 showed that people with hidradenitis were two to four times more likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. A Korean study found that patients with hidradenitis suppurativa had an increased risk of developing cancer overall, but the risk was notably higher for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These kinds of epidemiologic studies don’t dig down into the reasons for the link between hidradenitis suppurativa, but researchers have speculated that the chronic inflammatory state of hidradenitis suppurativa dysregulates the immune system in a way that shortens the odds of developing lymphoma (the lymphatic system is part of the immune system).

Now there is another piece to the puzzle that implicates hidradenitis suppurativa as increasing lymphoma risk. The authors of the brief report published in September 2026 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology say their results warrant dermatologists being vigilant in examining the lymph nodes of the patients with hidradenitis suppurativa. Swollen lymph modes can be the first sign of lymphoma. They also called for prospective studies of the possible link and whether controlling inflammation might reduce it.

Co-first authors Rahib K. Islam, a medical student at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans, and Kazi N. Islam, Ph.D., a professor at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, using the TiNetX Research Network database. They identified 228,688 people with hidradenitis suppurativa and, for comparison purposes, 6,617,423 people without it. After matching they wound up with 218,703 people with hidradenitis suppurativa and a comparison group with the same number of people. In the group with hidradenitis suppurativa, they also identified people with one or more prescriptions for one of the medications that inhibit tumor necrosis factor alpha, a group that includes Humira (adalimumab), Remicade (infliximab), Enbrel (etanercept), certolizumab pegol (Cimzia) and Simponi (golimumab).

Their study included the 20-year period from 2005 to 2025. They found that overall lymphoma incidence was 0.48% in the hidradenitis suppurativa group (1,038 cases among 216,909 people with hidradenitis suppurativa). In the control, the incidence was 0.30% (651 out of 217,626). That difference works out to a 60% greater risk of developing lymphoma among the patients with hidradenitis suppurativa.

The results were similar when it came to the different subtypes of lymphoma. The Hodgkin lymphoma incidence was 0.05% among the patients with hidradenitis suppurativa compared with 0.03% in the control group, which works out to a 73% greater risk among those with hidradenitis suppurativa. The non-Hodgkin lymphoma risk was 0.15% in the patients with hidradenitis suppurativa compared with 0.08% in the control group, which works out to an 85% greater risk in the people with hidradenitis suppurativa.

But when the Islams and their colleagues looked at patients with hidradenitis suppurativa and exposure to one of the tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibitor medications, they found no difference in lymphoma risk among those taking one of the medications—as measured by one or more prescriptions—and those not taking them.

Here is the takeaway statement from the study: “Our findings indicate that HS [hidradenitis suppurativa] is associated with a statistically significant increase in lymphoma risk versus matched general population controls.”

The limitations of this study would be familiar to anyone with a basic understanding of medical studies: the retrospective design, the reliance on diagnostic codes that can lead to misclassification, and, in this case, the absence of information about the severity of the patients’ hidradenitis suppurativa.