High blood pressure is an important risk factor for heart disease and is treated by various anti hypertensive medications. Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) are established and proven medication for patients with high blood pressure and also, prevent deaths due to heart disease. ARBs are medications which blocks the effect of Angiotensin II and thus leading to dilation of blood vessels which results in reduction in blood pressure. However, a recent research has found that patients on this medication are somewhat more prone to be diagnosed with the cancer than those not consuming it.
Blood pressure lowering drugs may cause cancer. This finding was based on a systemic review and meta analysis of various clinical trials. Such review provides a significant mean to find the overall effect of various treatments. This report included the results of trials done on currently available ARBs and was more specifically focused on effects of ARBs on new cancer development and deaths from cancer. Various scientific databases were searched and clinical trials which included at least 100 patients were considered for analysis. Special care was taken in selection of trials as cancer is a rare adverse event which takes longer time to develop and hence only studies with one year of follow up were included.
Total 5 clinical trials were included in the analysis, which included total of 61,590 participants. The researchers assessed the risk of cancer associated with ARBs medication. The results of meta analysis showed that there was an increased risk of cancer in patients taking ARBs compared with people not taking ARBs. It was seen that risk of new cancer development was 8% higher in patients taking ARBs compared to non ARB users. Additionally, no difference was observed between the ARB and non ARB groups in risk of cancer related deaths.
In conclusion, the report said that ARBs are linked with a slightly increased risk of new cancer diagnosis. This study does not prove that ARBs cause cancer, but the data from this systematic review is suggestive of a link with increased risk that requires further investigation in this area.
There is no reason to panic in case you are taking any medication that are said to be causing cancer. You should try to visit your doctor and ask for a possible alternative that you could take. Also the risk is only slightly more than in people who do not take the ARBs. There could be other factors which could be responsible for the causation of cancer apart from the drugs themselves.
Dr. Anita Brown is a New York based physician. She actively supports Http://www.HealthEnclave.com by writing articles on wide range of topics and interests. She has a passion for writing this coupled with her education credentials as a doctor make her an excellent medical writer.
