ArticlePharmacoepidemiology and drug safety2019
Risk of second breast cancer events with chronic opioid use in breast cancer survivors.
Article in Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cancer-related pain: A bidirectional modulator of cancer progression.Clinical and translational medicine · 2026Review
- Review
- Consensus statement on chronic pain treatment in cancer survivors.Journal of anesthesia · 2025Review
- Opioids and Cancer: Current Understanding and Clinical Considerations.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2024Review
- The influence of anaesthesia on cancer growth.Radiology and oncology · 2024Review
- Impact of opioids and mu-opioid receptors on oncologic metastasis.American journal of cancer research · 2024Review
- The association between perioperative opioids and breast cancer recurrence: a narrative review of the literature.Translational breast cancer research : a journal focusing on translational research in breast cancer · 2023Review
- Antitumor Anesthetic Strategy in the Perioperatory Period of the Oncological Patient: A Review.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Review
- Review
- Targeting the mu-Opioid Receptor for Cancer Treatment.Current oncology reports · 2021Review
- Anaesthesia as an influence in tumour progression.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2021Review
- Patient-level factors associated with chronic opioid use in cancer: a population-based cohort study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeOpioids may increase cancer risk and progression through multiple pathways. Our objective was to estimate the association between chronic opioid use and risk of second breast cancer events (SBCEs).
methodsCohort study of women greater than or equal to 18 years, diagnosed with early stage breast cancer between January 1, 1990, and December 31, 2008, and enrolled in a large health plan for 1+ years before and after (unless died) diagnosis. SBCEs were defined as evidence of recurrence or second primary breast cancer in the medical chart. Chronic opioid use was defined as 75+ days of use in any moving 90-day window after breast cancer diagnosis and varied to 150+ days in a 180-day window in a sensitivity analysis. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for SBCE and components of SBCE by chronic opioid use.
resultsAlmost 10% met the criteria for chronic use and almost a third of users were taking opioids for greater than 3 years. Risk of SBCEs (HR = 1.20; 95% CI, 0.85-1.70), including second primary breast cancer (HR = 1.38; 95% CI, 0.71-2.70), was nonsignificantly higher among chronic users vs nonchronic/nonusers. The HR for recurrence was 1.14 (95% CI, 0.76-2.70). Results of the sensitivity analyses on longer opioid use does support an association with SBCE or recurrence.
conclusionThis first US-based study on chronic opioid use and cancer outcomes provides some reassurance on safety. However, the question warrants further exploration in other populations and settings.
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