Beta-blocker use and lung cancer mortality in a nationwide cohort study of patients with primary non-small cell lung cancer

• BACKGROUND: Beta-adrenergic receptor blockers have been associated with improved survival among patients with different types of malignancies, but available data for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients is contradictory and limited to small hospital-based studies. We therefore aimed to investigate if β-blocker use at the time of cancer diagnosis is associated with lung cancer mortality in the largest general population-based cohort of patients with NSCLC to date.PATIENTS AND METHODS: For this retrospectively defined nationwide cohort study, we used prospectively collected data from Swedish population and health registers. Through the Swedish Cancer Register, we identified 18,429 patients diagnosed with a primary NSCLC between 2006 and 2014 with follow-up to 2015. Cox regression was used to estimate the association between beta-blocker use at time of cancer diagnosis ascertained from the Prescribed Drug Register and cancer-specific mortality identified from the Cause of Death Register.RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 10.2 months, 14,994 patients died (including 13,398 from lung cancer). Compared with non-use, beta-blocker use (predominantly prevalent use, 93%) was not associated with lung cancer mortality [hazard ratio (95% confidence interval): 1.01 (0.97-1.06)]. However, the possibility that diverging associations for specific beta-blockers and some histopathological subtypes exist cannot be excluded.CONCLUSION: In this nationwide cohort of NSCLC patients, beta-blocker use was not associated with lung cancer mortality when assessed in aggregate in the total cohort, but evidence for some beta-blockers is less conclusive.IMPACT: Our results do not indicate that beta-blocker use at lung cancer diagnosis reduces the cancer-specific mortality rate in NSCLC patients.

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MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Cancer och onkologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Cancer and Oncology (hsv//eng)

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