Table 4 Relationship between cardiac glycosides and the incidence of cancer in recent clinical studies
Authors (year), reference | Number of patients taking cardiac glycosides | Medication | Type of cancer | Main findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Haux et al. (2001) [72] | 9271 | Digitoxin | Any | Digitoxin use increased the risk of cancer (SIR 1.27, 95 % CI 1.18–1.37). Plasma digitoxin levels were negatively correlated with the risk of cancer |
Ahern et al. (2008) [73] | 2890 | Digoxin | Breast cancer | Digoxin use was associated with the increased risk of breast cancer (OR 1.30, 95 % CI 1.14–1.48). The risk was positively correlated with the duration of digoxin exposure (OR for 7–18 years of digoxin use 1.39, 95 % CI 1.10–1.74) |
Biggar et al. (2011) [74] | 104,648 | Digoxin | Breast cancer | Current digoxin use increased the risk of breast cancer (RR, 1.39; 95 % CI, 1.32–1.46). In digoxin users, the risk was higher for ER-positive breast cancers (RR, 1.35; 95 % CI, 1.26–1.45) than for ER-negative breast cancers (RR, 1.20; 95 % CI, 1.03–1.40) |
Biggar et al. (2012) [75] | 104,648 | Digoxin | Corpus uteri cancer | Current digoxin use increased the risk of corpus uteri cancer (RR 1.48, 95 % CI 1.32–1.65). (RR 1.06, 95 % CI 0.92–1.22) (RR 1.00, 95 % CI 0.79–1.25) |
Biggar et al. (2012) [75] | 104,648 | Digoxin | Ovary cancer | Current digoxin use increased the risk of ovary cancer (RR 1.06, 95 % CI 0.92–1.22) |
Biggar et al. (2012) [75] | 104,648 | Digoxin | Cervix cancer | Current digoxin use increased the risk of cervix cancer (RR 1.00, 95 % CI 0.79–1.25) |
Platz et al. (2011) [76] | 936 | Digoxin | Prostate cancer | Current digoxin use decreased the risk of prostate cancer (RR 0.76, 95 % CI 0.61–0.95) |