We identified 35 871 patients with newly diagnosed herpes zoster during 2000–2008 from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. We analyzed the standardized incidence ratios for various types of cancer.


Among patients with herpes zoster, 895 cases of cancer were reported. Patients with herpes zoster were not at increased risk of cancer (standardized incidence ratio 0.99, 95% confidence interval 0.93–1.06). Among the subgroups stratified by sex, age and years of follow-up, there was also no increased risk of overall cancer.
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