Sørensen TT, Farkas DK, Riahi EZB, et al. - Researchers undertook this population-based cohort study to determine if patients with motor neuron disease and its most common subtype, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, would have a lower risk of developing cancer. They used routinely obtained data from population-based registries in Denmark. This analysis involved 5,053 patients suffering from a motor neuron disease. Among these, the overall standardized incidence ratio of any cancer was estimated to be 1.17 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03– 1.31); the corresponding standardized incidence ratio for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was estimated to be 1.24 (95% CI, 0.96– 1.57). The standardized incidence ratios for lymphoid leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and basal cell skin cancer, beyond one year of follow-up, were found to be increased in patients in the motor neuron disease. Findings did not support the hypothesis that motor neuron disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is related to decreased cancer incidence. Heightened surveillance may be responsible for an increased risk of cancer during the first year of follow-up.