Antidepressant medication use and breast cancer risk

Experimental and epidemiologic studies suggest that antidepressant medication use may be associated with breast cancer risk. This hypothesis was investigated using a population-based case-control study; cases diagnosed in 1995-1996 were identified using the Ontario Cancer Registry, and controls were randomly sampled from an Ontario Ministry of Finance database. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire, and multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Adjusted odds ratio estimates ranged from 0.7 to 0.8 and were not statistically significant for "ever" use of antidepressants, tricyclics, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Compared with no antidepressant use, use of tricyclic antidepressants for greater than 2 years' duration was associated with an elevated risk of breast cancer (odds ratio (OR) = 2.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.9, 5.0). Of the six most commonly reported antidepressant medications, only paroxetine use was associated with an increase in breast cancer risk (OR = 7.2, 95% CI: 0.9, 58.3). Results from this study do not support the hypothesis that "ever" use of any antidepressant medications is associated with breast cancer risk. Use of tricyclic medications for greater than 2 years, however, may be associated with a twofold elevation, and use of paroxetine may be associated with a substantial increase in breast cancer risk.