‘No sign’ that drugs have any link to cancer risk

There is no evidence that drugs to lower blood pressure increase the risk of cancer, scientists who claim to have carried out the biggest study yet on the much-debated topic have said.

The research addresses an “ongoing controversy” around such medications, known as antihypertensive drugs, and possible links to developing cancer. The study should reassure people about their safety, the author said.

Emma Copland, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, said the findings were of“paramount importance” due to the known benefit of such drugs in protecting against heart attacks and strokes.

The study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, is the largest on cancer outcomes in participants of randomised trials investigating antihypertensive medication, looking at around 260,000 people in 31 trials, researchers said.

Investigators were asked for information on which participants developed cancer and those behind the study said much of the information had not been published before. Researchers estimated the effect of five antihypertensive drugs on the risk of developing any type of cancer, of dying from cancer, and of developing breast, colorectal, lung, prostate and skin cancers.