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A study published in 2013 showed that women taking calcium channel blockers for at least ten years had a two-fold increased risk of breast cancer[1]
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To explore this association prospectively, US researchers analysed data on 50,757 women from a study that has followed the sisters of women with breast cancer since 2003.
Over a median follow-up of 5.3 years, the risk of developing breast cancer was the same for long-term users of calcium channel blockers and women who did not take them. The rate of long-term calcium channel blocker use was identical (1.3%) among women who did and did not develop cancer.
Reporting in Breast Cancer Research (online, 5 July 2016)[2]
, the team says their findings do not support previous reports suggesting an increased breast cancer risk, concerns over which could lead women to receive less effective hypertension treatment.
References
[1] Li CI, Daling JR, Tang MT, Haugen KL et al. Use of antihypertensive medications and breast cancer risk among women aged 55 to 74 years. JAMA Intern Med 2013;1731629–37. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.9071
[2] Wilson LE, D’Aloisio AA, Sandler DP et al. Long-term use of calcium channel blocking drugs and breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort of US and Puerto Rican women. Breast Cancer Research 2016;18:61. doi: 10.1186/s13058-016-0720-6
