Association between tamoxifen and cataract risk in breast cancer patients: Analysis of a national health insurance database.

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e24072 Background: Tamoxifen is often used for hormone-positive breast cancer. Recent trials suggested that ten years of tamoxifen use improves recurrence rate and death. Ocular side effects and cataracts were reported in previous trials. We revealed the risk of cataracts from real-world data of the Taiwan national health insurance research database. Methods: We retrieved data from the Taiwan National health insurance research database. Female breast cancer patients from 2000-2005 were enrolled in this study. Patients receiving cataract surgery were enrolled and matched with non-cataract surgery patients for comparison in the analysis. Age, cumulative days, chemotherapy, and the time interval between breast cancer and index date were included and as controlled variables. Results: Among 23,957 female breast cancer patients, a total of 1,578 patients receiving cataract surgery were enrolled and matched with patients without cataract surgery until the end of 2013. Age in patients undergoing cataract surgery group was significantly higher than the non-surgery group (59.9 and 58.3, respectively, P < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses showed an adjusted odds ratio of 1.02 (95% CI:1.01-1.03, P< 0.001). However, more prolonged exposure of tamoxifen (≧3 years) also had a higher risk of cataract development requiring surgery (adjusted odds ratio=1.32, 95% CI: 1.03–1.70, P = 0.030). Conclusions: Besides age, there is a significantly higher risk of cataract development requiring surgery among female breast cancer patients with long term tamoxifen use. Information from this study may provide further clinical surveillance efforts in cancer survivors. [Table: see text]