Breast carcinoma and antihypertensive therapy

Li et al. reported that the use of certain types of antihypertensive medication is associated with a modest increase in the risk of developing breast carcinoma. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution, as the number of comparisons made in the study was large, the magnitude of the observed effects was small, and the potential for biases was present. A number of studies have found no link between increased cancer risk and antihypertensive use. The findings of Li et al. should stimulate interest in the way in which specific classes of medication may influence breast carcinoma risk, but the bulk of the existing evidence suggests the absence of a significant link between antihypertensive use and breast carcinoma risk. See referenced original article on pages 1504–13, this issue.