Bullous pemphigoid and malignancy: relationship to indirect immunofluorescent findings

In a group of 93 patients with generalized bullous pemphigoid seen at the Mayo Clinic from 1970 to 1980, the frequency of concomitant malignancies did not appear to be higher than in the general population or in previously reported series from the Mayo Clinic. However, the subgroup with negative indirect immunofluorescent tests had an unexplained higher frequency of malignancy (4/28) than the subgroup with positive immunofluorescent tests (5/65).