β-blockers and breast cancer survival by molecular subtypes: a population-based cohort study and meta-analysis
2022/06/20 by Lukas Löfling, L. Lukas Løfling, Nathalie C. Støer +5 · 56 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Breast cancer #Cancer #Cancer, Lipids, and Metabolism #Cancer, Stress, Anesthesia, and Immune Response #Cohort #Cohort study #Confidence interval #Hazard ratio #Inflammatory mediators and NSAID effects #Internal medicine #Medicine #Meta-analysis #Oncology #Population #Proportional hazards model
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41416-022-01891-7
published in British Journal of Cancer 127(6), 1086-1096 (Springer Nature)
openalex publication_date 2022/06/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The association between use of β-blockers and breast cancer (BC) prognosis has been investigated in several observational studies, with conflicting results. We performed a nationwide cohort study and a meta-analysis to investigate the association, and assess if it varied between molecular subtypes of BC. METHODS: We identified women aged ≥50 years with BC diagnosed between 2004 and 2018 in Norway. We used Cox regression models to estimate the association between β-blocker use at diagnosis and BC-specific survival, overall and by molecular subtype. We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies that reported molecular subtype-specific estimates of this association. RESULTS: We included 30,060 women, of which 4461 (15%) used β-blockers. After a median follow-up of 5.1 years, 2826 (9%) died of BC. Overall, β-blocker use was not associated with BC-specific survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.07; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.97-1.19). We found an association only in triple-negative BC (TNBC) patients (HR = 0.66; 95% CI: 0.47-0.91). This was confirmed in the meta-analysis: β-blocker use was associated with progression/recurrence-free (HR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.38-0.89) and BC-specific survival (HR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.55-1.00) in TNBC patients only. CONCLUSION: In our cohort of BC patients and in the meta-analysis, β-blocker use was associated with prolonged BC-specific survival only in TNBC patients.
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