Hydrochlorothiazide use may increase melanoma risk

Source: Healio, June 2018

Patients classified as high users of hydrochlorothiazide had a higher risk for melanoma, according to findings published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

“We have recently shown that hydrochlorothiazide use increases the risk of lip and nonmelanoma skin cancer, notably squamous cell carcinoma,” Anton Pottegård, MScPharm, PhD, from the University of Southern Denmark, and colleagues wrote. “It would have substantial implications if the carcinogenic effect of hydrochlorothiazide also extended to malignant melanoma.”

Pottegård and colleagues identified 19,273 verified cases of melanoma and matched each to 10 cancer-free controls (n = 192,730) to determine if hydrochlorothiazide increases the risk for melanoma.