Findings from McGill University Health Centre Research Institute in Skin Cancer Reported (Skin Cancer and Hydrochlorothiazide: Novel Population-Based Analyses Considering Personal Risk Factors Including Race/Ethnicity): Oncology – Skin Cancer

2023 AUG 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on skin cancer is the subject of a new report. According to news reporting from McGill University Health Centre Research Institute by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Hydrochlorothiazide, a common antihypertensive, has photosensitive properties, potentially increasing skin cancer risk. We evaluated melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer among hydrochlorothiazide users with 3 different cohorts as each allows assessment of different potential cofounders/effect modifiers, including race/ethnicity.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from McGill University Health Centre Research Institute: “We built 3 cohorts using IBM MarketScan Research Databases: commercial and encounters (>3.5 million individuals, 2010-2018), a subcohort with health risk assessment respondents (415, 330), and Medicaid (509, 767, 2011-2017). Adults (aged 18+ years) entered the respective cohort with a first-filled prescription (cohort entry) for hydrochlorothiazide (the exposure of interest) or ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors, an active comparator with 12 months of continuous enrollment with medical/pharmacy coverage at baseline. We excluded those who used hydrochlorothiazide/ACE inhibitor (including fixed-dose combination products) 12 months before cohort entry and those with prior skin cancer, HIV, or organ transplant. We compared the risk for hydrochlorothiazide versus ACE inhibitor using multivariate proportional hazards regression. Baseline characteristics were similar, aside from more Black individuals among hydrochlorothiazide users (43.3% [95% CI, 43.0%-43.6%]) than ACE inhibitor users (28.1% [95% CI, 27.9%-28.3%]). The hazard ratio (95% CI) for nonmelanoma skin cancer related to hydrochlorothiazide (versus ACE inhibitor) was 0.96 (0.91-1.00) in the commercial cohort, 1.01 (0.77-1.32) for the health risk assessment subcohort, and 1.33 (0.77-2.29) for Medicaid. For melanoma, the respective hazard ratios were 1.07 (0.95-1.20), 0.85 (0.43-1.67), and 0.93 (0.51-1.67).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Our evaluation using 3 different approaches, including adjustment for race/ethnicity, did not establish a clear difference between hydrochlorothiazide and ACE inhibitor in terms of skin cancer risk.”

For more information on this research see: Skin Cancer and Hydrochlorothiazide: Novel Population-Based Analyses Considering Personal Risk Factors Including Race/Ethnicity. Hypertension, 2023. The publisher for Hypertension is Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1161/hypertensionaha.123.21274.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Marina G. Birck, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (M.G.B., C.S.M., M.A.A.M., L.P., S.B.). Additional authors for this research include Cristiano S. Moura, Marina A.A. Machado, Jia Li Liu, Michal Abrahamowicz, Louise Pilote, Sasha Bernatsky.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the authors of this research: Marina G. Birck (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3003-1839), Cristiano S. Moura (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2109-0709), Louise Pilote (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6159-0628), Sasha Bernatsky (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9515-2802).

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