Oral Bisphosphonates and Risk of Esophageal Cancer: a Dose-Intensity Analysis in a Nationwide Population
Menée à Taïwan, cette étude en population (16 204 cas et 64 816 témoins) évalue l'association entre la dose, la durée et fréquence des prises de bisphosphonates oraux et le risque de cancer de l'œsophage
Background: Esophageal cancer has been associated with oral bisphosphonate (BP) use, but current data is conflicting and devoid of Asian studies where esophageal squamous carcinoma prevails. Methods: We assessed the association between dose intensity, stratified by use duration (observation period) and exposure frequency, of oral BPs and the risk of esophageal cancer using 16,204 esophageal cancer cases and 64,816 malignancy-free controls identified from the Taiwan population-based National Health Insurance Research Database of 1997 to 2008. Results: Neither duration nor frequency of BP exposures was positively correlated to esophageal risk. In fact, the odds ratios (ORs) for rare users of 1-, 3-, 5-year observation periods were 3.86, 2.58, and 2.27, respectively (p < 0.001). Similar trend of descending ORs was also observed for rare-, frequent-, and regular-users of 1-year observation period (ORs = 3.86, 1.93, and 0.95, respectively). Conclusion: Our data suggest that BPs are not likely risk factors for esophageal cancer in Taiwan. Impact: The study demonstrates no evidence of an association between BP use and esophageal cancer risk from Asian perspective.