Digoxin Use After Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer and Survival: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Digoxin has been shown to affect a number of pathways that are of relevance to cancer, and its use has been associated with increased risks of breast and uterus cancer and, more recently, a 40% increase in colorectal cancer risk. These findings raise questions about the safety of digoxin use in colorectal cancer patients, and, therefore, we investigated whether digoxin use after colorectal cancer diagnosis increased the risk of colorectal cancer-specific mortality.Methods: A cohort of 10,357 colorectal cancer patients newly diagnosed from 1998 to 2009 was identified from English cancer registries and linked to the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (to provide digoxin and other prescription records) and to the Office of National Statistics mortality data (to identify 2,724 colorectal cancer-specific deaths). Using time-dependent Cox regression models, unadjusted and adjusted HRs and 95% con-

Cancer mortality does not differ by antiarrhythmic drug use: A population-based cohort of Finnish men

“…One population-based cohort study regarding colorectal cancer survival has previously been published 26 . The study included 10,357 patients with a colorectal cancer diagnosis and during the median follow-up of 4.8 years 2,724 colorectal cancer–specific deaths occurred.…”

“…Karasneh et al . 26 were able to adjust the analysis for received radiotherapy, chemotherapy or surgery within 6 months and for comorbidities more comprehensively compared to us.…”

“…Digoxin has estrogenic effects 20 and has been associated with an increased risk of breast 21 and uterine cancer but digoxin users may have a better prognosis and a decreased risk of metastases 22 – 24 . Digoxin use has also been linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer 25 but no difference in cancer-specific survival after diagnosis of colorectal cancer was found in a population-based cohort study 26 .…”

Association Between Digoxin Use and Cancer Incidence: A Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study With Competing Risk Analysis

“…Specific medication has an impact on cancer incidence only when it was prescribed for chronic conditions, which need to be taken on a long-term basis. However, the medication adherence was not described in detail (Karasneh et al, 2015), or the exposure of digoxin was low in the previous studies (Boursi et al, 2014).…”

Digoxin treatment reactivates in vivo radioactive iodide uptake and correlates with favorable clinical outcome in non‐medullary thyroid cancer

“…These studies differ in their findings. Some studies indicate that digoxin use is not significantly associated with cancer incidence or cancer-specific mortality in a number of malignancies [ 18 – 21 ]. In contrast, other human studies suggest that digoxin could modify cancer initiation or progression in certain tissue types [ 22 – 24 ].…”