Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30079440›Full record

ReviewInternational journal of bipolar disorders2018

Thyroid and renal tumors in patients treated with long-term lithium: case series from a lithium clinic, review of the literature and international pharmacovigilance reports.

Luca Ambrosiani, Claudia Pisanu, Arianna Deidda, Caterina Chillotti, Maria Erminia Stochino, Alberto Bocchetta

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in International journal of bipolar disorders, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Clinical use of lithium salts: guide for users and prescribers.International journal of bipolar disorders · 2019
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Luca AmbrosianiSection of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, S.S. 554, km 4,500, Monserrato, Italy.
Claudia PisanuSection of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, S.S. 554, km 4,500, Monserrato, Italy.
Arianna DeiddaSardinian Regional Centre of Pharmacovigilance, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Cagliari, Italy.
Caterina ChillottiUnit of Clinical Pharmacology, "San Giovanni di Dio Hospital", Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Cagliari, Italy.
Maria Erminia StochinoSardinian Regional Centre of Pharmacovigilance, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria, Cagliari, Italy.
Alberto BocchettaSection of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, S.S. 554, km 4,500, Monserrato, Italy. bocchett@unica.it.
Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Cagliari · ITUniversity of Cagliari · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCancer had never been considered as a relevant problem in patients treated with lithium until 2015, when a document published by the European Medicine Agency concluded that long-term use of lithium might induce renal tumors. A few months later, we observed the case of a woman treated with lithium for 18 years who was diagnosed with both thyroid and renal tumors.

methodsThis study aimed to investigate the correlation between lithium treatment and thyroid or renal tumors. We analyzed clinical records in our lithium clinic database, causes of death of patients who had been visited at least once at the lithium clinic, reports of lithium adverse reactions in the European and WHO pharmacovigilance databases, and published cases of thyroid and renal tumors in long-term lithium-treated patients.

resultsOf the 1871 lithium patients who had been visited at least once between 1980 and 2013, eight had been diagnosed with thyroid papillary carcinoma and two with clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma. No cases of thyroid cancer and only one case of renal tumor were the cause of death according to the 375 available death certificates. VigiAccess database contained a total of 29 and 14 cases of renal and thyroid tumors, respectively. EudraVigilance database contained 21 cases of renal and 8 of thyroid neoplasms. Literature search yielded 6 published cases of thyroid papillary carcinoma and 25 cases of various renal tumors. However, two population-based studies did not find any increased risks of cancer in patients exposed to lithium, whereas two nationwide studies did not find any excess of renal tumors.

conclusionSo far it has not been possible epidemiologically to confirm an increased risk of thyroid or renal cancers associated with lithium. Such a conclusion is supported by the findings of low rates and mortalities of thyroid or renal cancers from the present lithium clinic data.

Indexed as

EudraVigilanceLithiumRenal cancerThyroid cancerVigiAccess

Identifiers

PMID30079440
PMCPMC6161981
OpenAlexW2811295848

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.