Study: No Link Between Antihistamines and Breast Cancer

Women who take antihistamines do not appear to have an increased risk of breast cancer, according to Canadian researchers reporting in the International Journal of Cancer.

Concern had developed over antihistamines and a possible link to breast cancer after experiments had linked certain antihistamines to enhanced tumor growth in mice.

In their study, the researchers examined the lifetime use of antihistamines by some 3,133 women diagnosed with breast cancer and a comparable number of women who were cancer-free. Approximately one woman in six in both groups had used antihistamines.

Those who used the antihistamines did not have an increased risk for breast cancer, the researchers reported, and there was no apparent link between the age at which the women first used antihistamines or the duration of use.

"In light of these results, it is unlikely that antihistamine use increases the risk for breast cancer," the authors concluded.

Other Sources: International Journal of Cancer