Importance of accounting for timing of time-varying exposures in association studies : Hydrochlorothiazide and non-melanoma skin cancer

© 2023 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd..

PURPOSE: Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a widely prescribed antihypertensive drug with photosensitising properties, has been linked with non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) risk. However, previous analyses did not fully explore if and how the impact of past HCTZ exposures accumulates with prolonged use and/or depends on time elapsed since exposures. Therefore, we used different models to more comprehensively assess how NMSC risk vary with HCTZ exposure, and explore how the results may depend on modeling strategies.

METHODS: We used different parametric models with alternative time-varying exposure metrics, and the flexible weighted cumulative exposure model (WCE) to estimate associations between HCTZ exposures and NMSC risk in a population-based cohort of HCTZ users over 65 years old, in the province of Ontario, Canada.

RESULTS: Among 3844 HCTZ users, 273 developed NMSC during up to 8 years of follow-up. In parametric models, based on all exposures, increased duration of past HCTZ use was associated with an increase of NMSC risk but cumulative dose showed no systematic association. Yet, WCE results suggested that only exposures taken 2.5-4 years in the past were associated with the current NMSC hazard. This finding led us to re-define the parametric models, which also confirmed that any HCTZ dose taken outside this time-window were not systematically associated with NMSC incidence.

CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses illustrate how flexible modeling may yield new insights into complex temporal relationships between a time-varying drug exposure and risks of adverse events. Duration and recency of antihypertensive agents exposures must be taken into account in evaluating risk and benefits.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:32

Enthalten in:

Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety - 32(2023), 12 vom: 02. Dez., Seite 1411-1420

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Danieli, Coraline [VerfasserIn]
Moura, Cristiano S [VerfasserIn]
Pilote, Louise [VerfasserIn]
Bernatsky, Sasha [VerfasserIn]
Abrahamowicz, Michal [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

0J48LPH2TH
Antihypertensive Agents
Cumulative effects
Flexible modeling
Hydrochlorothiazide
Journal Article
Latency
Time-varying exposure
Weighted cumulative exposure

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 14.11.2023

Date Revised 22.11.2023

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1002/pds.5674

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM360284752