Livingstone E, Hollestein LM, van Herk-Sukel MPP, van de Poll-Franse L, Nijsten T, Schadendorf D, de Vries E. β-Blocker use and all-cause mortality of melanoma patients: results from a population-based Dutch cohort study.
Eur J Cancer 2013;
49:3863-71. [PMID:
23942335 DOI:
10.1016/j.ejca.2013.07.141]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2013] [Revised: 07/15/2013] [Accepted: 07/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Results from preclinical and observational studies suggest that β-adrenoreceptor inhibition might influence disease progression of melanoma.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients ⩾18years with cutaneous melanoma (Breslow thickness >1mm) registered in the Eindhoven Cancer Registry between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2010, who were also registered with PHARMO record linkage system (RLS), were eligible. Randomly selected patients using β-blockers from PHARMO record linkage system (RLS) matched on age and gender served as a control cohort. Adjusted time-dependent and time-fixed Cox proportional hazard models were employed to estimate the hazard ratio of all-cause mortality. Five-year relative survival rates for all-cause mortality were calculated to estimate disease specific survival.
RESULTS
203 of 709 eligible patients used β-blockers after melanoma diagnosis. The use of β-blockers was not associated with the risk of dying (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.55-1.24). Neither duration of exposure nor β-blocker dosage showed significant influence on survival. Five-year relative survival for β-blocker users was lower than in non-users amongst melanoma patients (80.9% and 83.7%, respectively) but higher among the β-blocker control group compared to the general population (101.4%).
CONCLUSION
Our results do not show a statistically significant impact of β-blocker exposure on overall survival of melanoma patients, regardless of the timing, duration or dosage of β-blocker use.
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