Study: Calcium-channel Blockers May Increase BC risk

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Study: Calcium-channel Blockers May Increase Breast Cancer Risk For Women.

CBS News (8/6, Jaslow) reports on its website that new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that “taking calcium channel blockers for years may raise a woman’s risk for breast cancer.” Dr. Christopher I. Li, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, wrote, “This is the first study to observe that long-term current use of calcium-channel blockers in particular are associated with breast cancer risk.”

        Bloomberg News (8/6, Ostrow) reports that according to the research, “women who took blood pressure drugs called calcium-channel blockers, like Pfizer’s Norvasc [amlodipine besylate], for 10 years or longer had a 2.5 times higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who never took the medicine or who used other blood pressure treatments.”

        Reuters (8/6, Pittman) quotes Li, who said, “We don’t really think these results should change any current clinical practice.” He added that the “most important thing is to have people manage their hypertension the best they can.”

        AFP (8/6) reports that the study was “observational and did not get into the reasons behind the increase, but experts said the findings may have major public health implications.”

        Also reporting this story are the Seattle Times (8/6, Zhang), Forbes (8/5) contributor Larry Husten, HealthDay (8/6, Reinberg), MedPage Today (8/6, Bankhead), Medscape (8/6, Kelly) and Heartwire (8/6, Kelly).

someday4sure

I have taken Norvasc, a calcium channel blocker, for over 15 yrs and developed BC 8 yrs ago.   I did not know the connection until reading this news report.   Thanks for posting.