ACEIs or ARBs may lower risk of mortality in oesophagal and gastric cancer patients

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are used in treating cardiovascular diseases. Previous studies indicated that ACEIs/ARBs may benefit cancer patients by inhibiting tumour angiogenesis and proliferation. The effect of ACEIs/ARBs on cancer survival in oesophagal and gastric cancer is still unclear. This study is to investigate the association between ACEIs/ARB usage and oesophagal and gastric cancer prognosis. This retrospective cohort study identified oesophagal and gastric cancer patients from 2008–to 2016 from the Taiwan Cancer Registry, and obtained medication usage and follow-up information from the National Health Insurance Research Database and Death Registry. Analysis groups were defined as ACEIs/ARBs user or non-user based on the usage of ACEIs/ARBs within the 6 months after a cancer diagnosis. The stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting using propensity scores was applied to balance covariates between study groups. We also used Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox regression to compare survival outcomes and estimate hazard ratios (HRs).

Results of the study:

They identified 14,463 and 21,483 newly-diagnosed oesophagal and gastric cancer patients from 2008–to 2016. ACEIs/ARBs users were associated with lower risk of cancer-specific mortality, although only significantly in gastric cancer (gastric: adjusted HR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.78–0.97; esophageal: adjusted HR =0.88, 95% CI = 0.76–1.02). A better survival outcome was observed among patients who received a higher cumulative defined daily dose of ACEIs/ARBs.

Thus, researchers found that using ACEIs/ARBs after cancer diagnosis was associated with a lower risk of mortality. Our results add to the knowledge of the benefit of ACEIs/ARBs against mortality in individuals with oesophagal/gastric cancer patients with hypertension.

Reference:

Prognostic impact of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers in oesophagal or gastric cancer patients with hypertension - a real-world study by Po-Chih Li, et al. published in the BMC Cancer.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-022-09513-4

Keywords:

Prognostic, impact, angiotensin-converting enzyme, inhibitors, angiotensin, receptors, blockers, esophageal, gastric cancer, patients, hypertension, BMC Cancer, Po-Chih Li, Ru-Yu Huang, Yu-Chien Yang, Kun-Pin Hsieh & Yi-Hsin Yang, Esophageal cancer, Gastric cancer, Epidemiology, Survival analysis