A Higher Dosage of Oral Alendronate Will Increase the Subsequent Cancer Risk of Osteoporosis Patients in Taiwan: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Wen-Yuan Lee, Li-Min Sun, Ming-Chia Lin, Ji-An Liang, Shih-Ni Chang, Fung-Chang Sung, Chih-Hsin Muo and Chia-Hung Kao

PLOS ONE, 2012, vol. 7, issue 12, 1-6

Abstract: Background: Controversy still exists regarding whether alendronate (ALN) use increases the risk of esophageal cancer or breast cancer. Methods: This paper explores the possible association between the use of oral ALN in osteoporosis patients and subsequent cancer risk using the National Health Insurance (NHI) system database of Taiwan with a Cox proportional-hazard regression analysis. The exposure cohort contained 5,624 osteoporosis patients used ALN and randomly frequency-matched by age and gender of 3 osteoporosis patients without any kind of anti-osteoporosis drugs in the same period. Results: For a dose ≥1.0 g/year, the risk of developing overall cancer was significantly higher (hazard ratio: 1.69, 95% confidence ratio: 1.39–2.04) than in osteoporosis patients without any anti-osteoporosis drugs. The risks for developing liver, lung, and prostate cancers and lymphoma were also significantly higher than in the control group. Conclusions: This population-based retrospective cohort study did not find a relationship between ALN use and either esophageal or breast cancer, but unexpectedly discovered that use of ALN with dose ≥1.0 g/year significantly increased risks of overall cancer incidence, as well as liver, lung, and prostate cancers and lymphoma. Further large population-based unbiased studies to enforce our findings are required before any confirmatory conclusion can be made.

Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0053032

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053032

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