Antidepressant medication use and breast cancer risk

Most epidemiologic studies have detected no association between prior use of antidepressant medications and breast cancer risk. Despite the uniform conclusion, there is a continuous rise in the proportion of women using antidepressants, lending support to further monitoring of disease effects.

We conducted a population-based case-control study among 2908 incident breast cancer cases diagnosed from 2003 to 2006, and 2927 control women from Wisconsin. Associations between antidepressant use and breast cancer risk were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression.

The association between use of antidepressant medications and breast cancer risk was null (OR = 0.89, 95%CI 0.78-1.01). When stratified by type of antidepressant, use of selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) resulted in a similar risk overall (OR = 0.85, 95%CI 0.72-1.00) and among former and currents users. There were no associations between other types of antidepressant classes and breast cancer risk. In assessing risks among the five most commonly used antidepressants, we detected no association with fluoxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine, or buproprion hydrochloride. There was a reduction in breast cancer risk of 36% (OR = 0.64, 95%CI 0.45-0.92) among users of paroxetine hydrochloride. When stratified by body mass index, there was a reduction in risk associated with antidepressant users who were not overweight (OR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.60-0.90), but this association was null in overweight women (p-interaction = 0.04).

Surveillance of health risks associated with antidepressant medications continues to be of public health importance, though these medications are not likely to be associated with breast cancer risk.