ArticleBreast cancer research : BCR2008
Digoxin treatment is associated with an increased incidence of breast cancer: a population-based case-control study.
Article in Breast cancer research : BCR, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Digitalis Use and the Risk of Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Drug safety · 2017Pooled it
- Cardiac glycosides use and the risk and mortality of cancer; systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- Digoxin use and risk of invasive breast cancer: evidence from the Nurses' Health Study and meta-analysis.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2014Pooled it
- Factors Associated With Male Breast Cancer Incidence Among Prostate Cancer Survivors: Real World Evidence From Veterans Affairs National Prostate Cancer Data Core.The Prostate · 2026Article
- Digoxin targets BHLHE40 to inhibit epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cervical cancer cells via downregulation of ANGPTL3.Journal of natural medicines · 2026Article
- Digoxin use is associated with pancreatic cancer risk but does not affect survival.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2021Article
- Cardiac Glycoside Ouabain Exerts Anticancer ActivityFrontiers in oncology · 2021Article
- Association Between Digoxin Use and Cancer Incidence: A Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study With Competing Risk Analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- The Association of New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation and Risk of Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cardiology research and practice · 2020Review
- Integrative analysis of clinical and bioinformatics databases to identify anticancer properties of digoxin.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Pharmacologic Management of Cancer Therapeutics-Induced Cardiomyopathy in Adult Cancer Survivors.Current heart failure reports · 2018Review
- Concurrent new drug prescriptions and prognosis of early breast cancer: studies using the Danish Breast Cancer Group clinical database.Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) · 2018Article
- Digoxin reduces the mutagenic effects of Mitomycin C in human and rodent cell lines.Cytotechnology · 2017Article
- Risk of cancer in patients with heart failure who use digoxin: a 10-year follow-up study and cell-based verification.Oncotarget · 2017Article
- Digoxin Plus Trametinib Therapy Achieves Disease Control in BRAF Wild-Type Metastatic Melanoma Patients.Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2017Article
- The Associations of Atrial Fibrillation With the Risks of Incident Invasive Breast and Colorectal Cancer.American journal of epidemiology · 2017Article
- Repurposing of approved cardiovascular drugs.Journal of translational medicine · 2016Review
- Synergistic effects of ion transporter and MAP kinase pathway inhibitors in melanoma.Nature communications · 2016Article
- Digoxin use and the risk for colorectal cancer.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2014Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionLaboratory and epidemiologic studies have suggested a modifying effect of cardiac glycosides (for example, digoxin and digitoxin) on cancer risk. We explored the association between digoxin treatment and invasive breast cancer incidence among postmenopausal Danish women.
methodsWe used Danish registries to identify 5,565 postmenopausal women diagnosed with incident invasive breast carcinoma between 1 January 1991 and 31 December 2007, and 55,650 matched population controls. Cardiac glycoside prescriptions were ascertained from county prescription registries. All subjects had at least 2 years of recorded prescription drug and medical history data. We estimated the odds ratio associating digoxin use with breast cancer in conditional logistic regression models adjusted for age, county of residence, and use of anticoagulants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), aspirin, and hormone replacement therapy. We also explored the impact of confounding by indication and detection bias.
resultsDigoxin was the sole cardiac glycoside prescribed to subjects during the study period. There were 324 breast cancer cases (5.8%) and 2,546 controls (4.6%) with a history of digoxin use at least 1 year before their index date (adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.30; 95% confidence interval: 1.14 to 1.48). The breast cancer OR increased modestly with increasing duration of digoxin exposure (adjusted OR for 7 to 18 years of digoxin use: 1.39; 95% confidence interval: 1.10 to 1.74). The association was robust to adjustment for age, receipt of hormone replacement therapy, coprescribed drugs, and confounding by indication. A comparison of screening mammography rates between cases and controls showed no evidence of detection bias.
conclusionsOur results suggest that digoxin treatment increases the risk of invasive breast cancer among postmenopausal women.
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Registered trials
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