The risk of bacteremia in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.

We estimated the risk of bacteremia in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) compared with the general population; 1237 cases of MGUS were identified by linking information on detected monoclonal components in the North Jutland County with the Danish Cancer Registry. We evaluated the risk of bacteremia in the MGUS cohort during the 13-yr period from 1981 to 1993 by linkage to the Bacteremia Registry in the County. Follow-up for the occurrence of bacteremia started 30 d after detection of the M-component and continued until malignant transformation, death or until 31 December 1993, whichever came first. The expected numbers of bacteremia was based upon county, age, sex and period-specific incidence rates. The median follow-up period was 3.8 yr. Forty episodes of bacteremia occurred during 5500 person-years versus 18 expected. The crude standardized incidence ratio of bacteremia was 2.2 (95% confidence interval, 1.6-3.0). There was no distinct pattern of bacterial etiology in the MGUS cohort. Although we found an association between MGUS and risk of bacteremia, the overall risk is small and this finding hardly affects the clinical handling of MGUS patients.