Users of erectile dysfunction drugs face slight increase in risk of skin cancer

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Users of erectile dysfunction drugs face slight increase in risk of skin cancer

Researchers found the risk of melanoma was 21 per cent higher in men who took the erectile dysfunction drugs.

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 24 June, 2015, 1:02am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 24 June, 2015, 1:02am

Agence France-Presse in Miami



Using Swedish medical records spanning 2006 to 2012, researchers found about 4,000 cases of melanoma. Of those patients, 11 per cent had filled at least one prescription for a PDE5 inhibitor to treat erectile dysfunction.

A class of erectile dysfunction drugs that includes Viagra has been linked to a slight increase in the risk of the skin cancer melanoma, according to a study.

While the research in the Journal of the American Medical Association stops short of proving the drugs cause melanoma, researchers said their findings warranted a closer look at medications known as PDE5 (phosphodiesterase type 5) inhibitors.

They include sildenafil, vardenafil and tadalafil, which go by brand names such as Viagra, Levitra, Cialis and others. Using Swedish medical records spanning 2006 to 2012, researchers found about 4,000 cases of melanoma. Of those patients, 11 per cent had filled at least one prescription for a PDE5 inhibitor to treat erectile dysfunction.

When comparing these men to a control group of cancer-free men selected randomly from the same registry and matched by age, researchers found the risk of melanoma was 21 per cent higher in men who took the erectile dysfunction drugs.

However, the most pronounced risk was seen in men who had filled a single prescription (32 per cent higher). The risk of melanoma in men who filled multiple prescriptions was 14 per cent, which was not statistically significant, according to the study led by doctor Stacy Loeb of New York University. Researchers were also puzzled by the finding that men taking ED drugs were more likely to be diagnosed with low-grade melanoma, not advanced or high-risk cancers.

The risk of melanoma they found among erectile dysfunction drug takers was modest, and would translate to about seven additional cases of cancer per 100,000 men who were taking PDE5 inhibitors.

Chris Chapple, secretary general of the European Association of Urology, said the findings were "interesting observation" but more research is needed.






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