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. 2017 Dec;20(4):356-360.
doi: 10.4048/jbc.2017.20.4.356. Epub 2017 Dec 19.

Tamoxifen and the Risk of Parkinson's Disease in Female Patients with Breast Cancer in Asian People: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Chien-Tai Hong  1   2 , Lung Chan  1   2 , Chaur-Jong Hu  1   2 , Chien-Min Lin  2   3 , Chien-Yeh Hsu  4   5 , Ming-Chin Lin  3   6
Affiliations

Tamoxifen and the Risk of Parkinson's Disease in Female Patients with Breast Cancer in Asian People: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Chien-Tai Hong et al. J Breast Cancer. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: Whether tamoxifen affects the risk of neurodegenerative disease is controversial. This nationwide population-based study investigated the risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) associated with tamoxifen treatment in female patients with breast cancer using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database.

Methods: A total of 5,185 and 5,592 female patients with breast cancer who did and did not, respectively, receive tamoxifen treatment between 2000 and 2009 were included in the study. Patients who subsequently developed PD were identified. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the risk of PD between the aforementioned groups.

Results: Tamoxifen did not significantly increase the crude rate of developing PD in female patients with breast cancer (tamoxifen group, 16/5,169; non-tamoxifen group, 11/5,581; p=0.246). Tamoxifen did not significantly increase the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for subsequently developing PD (aHR, 1.310; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.605-2.837; p=0.494). However, tamoxifen significantly increased the risk of PD among patients followed up for more than 6 years (aHR, 2.435; 95% CI, 1.008-5.882; p=0.048).

Conclusion: Tamoxifen treatment may increase the risk of PD in Taiwanese female patients with breast cancer more than 6 years after the initiation of treatment.

Keywords: Breast neoplasms; Parkinson disease; Tamoxifen.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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