β-Blocker Use and Risk of Recurrence in Patients with Early Breast Cancer

Aim: We evaluated whether the concurrent beta-blocker use in early breast cancer patients influenced the outcome in terms of preventing tumor recurrence after adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 610 patients with breast cancer. Thereafter, we compared overall disease-free survival (DFS) between beta-blocker users and nonusers. Results: Those not receiving beta-blockers had a relatively longer mean DFS (10.8 vs. 9.7 years), although the difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.651). When the survival analysis was adjusted for age, tumor stage, hormone receptor status and HER2 status, the results remained unaltered, suggesting that beta-blocker use did not significantly improve overall DFS (HR, 0.849; 95% CI, 0.537-1.343; p = 0.485). Conclusion: Our findings failed to confirm previous results indicating a potential antitumor effect of beta-blockers. (C) 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel