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Use of antihypertensive medications and breast cancer risk

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Abstract

Purpose

Use of specific antihypertensive medications (AHTs) has been hypothesized to increase breast cancer risk, but results across published studies are inconsistent.

Methods

We re-evaluated the relationship between AHT use and breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort of 3,201 women ≥65 years of age at recruitment now with more than double the length of follow-up (12 vs. 5 years) and substantially more breast cancer diagnoses (188 compared with 75 cases). We estimated the association between AHT use overall as well as use of specific formulations (based on data collected annually) and breast cancer risk using multivariate-adjusted Cox regression.

Results

Compared with women who reported no use of AHTs, women who had used calcium channel blockers (CCB) within the past two years had a 1.6-fold increased risk of breast cancer (95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.0–2.5), and in particular, recent users of immediate-release CCBs had a 2.4-fold increased risk (95 % CI: 1.3–4.5). Neither ever nor recent use of any other type of AHT was associated with breast cancer risk.

Conclusions

While the observed association between immediate-release CCBs and breast cancer risk is based on a small sample size and needs to be interpreted cautiously, this result is consistent with others in the literature. However, given declines in use of these preparations in favor of sustained-release CCBs, which was not related to risk, the potential clinical and public health impact of this association is limited. This study also adds to the evidence that other commonly used AHTs are not strongly related to breast cancer risk.

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Acknowledgments

The Cardiovascular Health Study (http://www.chs-nhlbi.org) provided all of the subjects and specimens for this project, and Dr. Mary Lou Biggs was particularly supportive throughout. Cancer incidence data were supplied by the California Cancer Registry, North Carolina Central Cancer Registry, Pennsylvania Bureau of Health Statistics, Maryland Cancer Registry, and Johns Hopkins Training Center for Public Health Research; these institutions specifically disclaim responsibility for any analyses, interpretations, or conclusions expressed herein. This research was supported in part by a pilot grant from the Avon Foundation for women.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1900 9th Ave, M/S C-9S-5, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA

    Babette S. Saltzman, Noel S. Weiss, Anne McTiernan, Janet R. Daling & Christopher I. Li

  2. Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Babette S. Saltzman, Noel S. Weiss, Annette L. Fitzpatrick, Anne McTiernan, Janet R. Daling & Christopher I. Li

  3. Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA, USA

    Babette S. Saltzman

  4. Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, HRP Redwood Building, Room T254B, 259 Campus Dr, Stanford, CA, 94305-5405, USA

    Weiva Sieh

Authors
  1. Babette S. Saltzman
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  2. Noel S. Weiss
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  3. Weiva Sieh
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  4. Annette L. Fitzpatrick
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  5. Anne McTiernan
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  6. Janet R. Daling
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  7. Christopher I. Li
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Correspondence to Babette S. Saltzman.

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Saltzman, B.S., Weiss, N.S., Sieh, W. et al. Use of antihypertensive medications and breast cancer risk. Cancer Causes Control 24, 365–371 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0122-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0122-8

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