A cohort study of antihypertensive medication use and breast cancer among Danish women

Background. It has been suggested that specific antihypertensive medications (AHT) may either increase or decrease breast cancer risk. Methods. We studied breast cancer incidence among 49,950 women in North Jutland, Denmark in order to determine if breast cancer risk is associated with specific classes of AHT use. Poisson regression analyses were used to calculate rate ratios for ever or exclusive use of each class of AHT, number of prescriptions for AHT, and years of follow-up. Results. There was no statistically significant association between ever use of any AHT overall (RR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.81-1.10) or any specific class of AHT (diuretics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers (CCBs), angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and angiotensin II antagonists) and breast cancer. Conclusions. This study should offer further reassurance to women currently using AHT that their medication use is unlikely related to breast cancer risk.