Background Bisphosphonates have been shown to be associated with reduced risk of developing breast cancer. The association between the use of bisphosphonates and the risk of developing gynecological cancers has not been reported yet.
Methods The Cancer in the Uterus and Ovary Study is a case– control study of consecutive gynecological cancer cases cared for at Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel and age/clinic/ethnic-group matched population controls. Use of bisphosphonates was assessed in 270 endometrial and ovarian cancer cases and their matched controls using data from prescription computerized records which were available for 100% of the participants.
Results Bisphosphonates were used by 30% of the ovarian cancer controls and 23.2% of the endometrial cancer controls but only by 13.6% of the ovarian cancer cases and 9% of the endometrial cancer cases. When analyses were restricted to women using the drug for one year or more prior to diagnosis, the use of bisphosphonates was associated with a significantly marked reduction in risk of endometrial cancer, and similarly of ovarian cancer. The association with endometrial cancer remained significant after adjustment for age, fruit and vegetable consumption, sports activity, family history of endometrial cancer, ethnic group, BMI, HRT use, number of pregnancies. The current number of participants with ovarian cancer is too small to evaluate the association between bisphosphonates and disease in a multivariate model.
Conclusions The use of bisphosphonates for more than one year was associated with a major reduction in the risk of endometrial cancer and possibly also of ovarian cancer.
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