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Cardiac glycosides and the risk of breast cancer in women with chronic heart failure and supraventricular arrhythmia

  • Epidemiology
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Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine whether the use of cardiac glycosides (CGs), drugs used in the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) and supra-ventricular arrhythmia, is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. A cohort of 53,454 women newly diagnosed with CHF or supra-ventricular arrhythmia between January 1, 1988 and December 31, 2010, followed until December 31, 2012, was identified using the United Kingdom Clinical Practice Research Datalink. A nested case–control analysis was performed, where all incident cases of breast cancer occurring during follow-up were identified and matched with up to 10 controls on age, cohort entry date, and duration of follow-up. Conditional logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) of incident breast cancer associated with the use of CGs, along with measures of cumulative duration of use and dose. All analyses considered a one year lag period prior to the event, necessary for latency considerations and to minimize detection bias. The 898 breast cancer cases diagnosed beyond one year of follow-up were matched to 8,940 controls. Overall, use of CGs was not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer when compared to non-use (OR 1.07, 95 % CI 0.90–1.26). Furthermore, the risk did not vary with cumulative duration of use or cumulative dose. The findings of this large population-based study indicate that the use of CGs is not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. This should provide reassurance to physicians and patients using these drugs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Correspondence to Laurent Azoulay.

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Couraud, S., Dell’Aniello, S., Bouganim, N. et al. Cardiac glycosides and the risk of breast cancer in women with chronic heart failure and supraventricular arrhythmia. Breast Cancer Res Treat 146, 619–626 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-014-3058-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-014-3058-8

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