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Diuretic use and the risk of breast cancer

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 23, pages 216–218 (2009)Cite this article

Some antihypertensive medications, particularly calcium channel blockers, have been associated with breast cancer risk, although the evidence is inconsistent. 1 Diuretics comprise the antihypertensive drug class with the longest record of use 2 and are one of the most commonly used drug classes in the United States, 3 yet have received less study than other antihypertensive classes. We have assessed the relation of diuretic use to the risk of invasive breast cancer using 30 years of data from our ongoing hospital-based case–control surveillance study.

We used data collected from patients admitted to collaborating hospitals in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore from 1976 through 2007. Since 1997, the study has been conducted solely in Philadelphia. The population base for the study comprised people living in zip codes within 50 miles of a participating hospital. Eligible patients were aged 18–79 years, were under the care of a physician participating in the study, were able to complete the interview (for example, not deaf) and did not have certain excluded diagnoses (for example, psychiatric).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    P F Coogan & L Rosenberg

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    B L Strom

  3. Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    B L Strom

Authors
  1. P F Coogan
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  2. B L Strom
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  3. L Rosenberg
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Correspondence to P F Coogan.

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Coogan, P., Strom, B. & Rosenberg, L. Diuretic use and the risk of breast cancer. J Hum Hypertens 23, 216–218 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.131

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