Heart Drug Linked to Breast Cancer
Women taking medication to treat heart disease may actually be putting themselves at risk for another fatal illness. A new study shows that women taking the heart drug digoxin have an increased risk of breast cancer.
In a study of more than two million Danish women on digoxin, researchers found that they were 40 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women not taking the drug. One possible explanation for the higher risk is that digoxin is used to treat irregular heart beats and heart disease, but can also act like the female hormone estrogen. Estrogen has been linked to breast cancer in older women.
The women with the highest risk were those in the first year of taking digoxin, along with those who took the drug more than three years. The risk appeared to disappear when women were taken off the drug.
Although the study does not conclusively establish that digoxin causes breast cancer, it is possible that the benefits of the heart drug may not outweigh the risks. Some women may be trading one chronic disease for another, putting their lives at risk